Even Porsche is not doing as well. With its Superb, Skoda is boosting its plug-in hybrid offering. On the new generation of its sedan, the Czech firm is increasing the all-electric range to 136 kilometers, far from the 45 kilometers offered by the previous generation. Faced with a Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid launched last year, Skoda claims 40 kilometers more. An advance that it owes to Volkswagen, its parent company, which introduced a 25.7 kWh battery (19.7 kWh net capacity) on the Passat eHybrid last year.
The new Skoda Superb was released last year in April, but it was necessary to wait until Volkswagen was able to take advantage of its new plug-in hybrid engine before starting to deploy it within the group. It's done, with a new Skoda Superb iV equipped with a 150 hp 1.5 4-cylinder, combined with a 116 hp electric motor. The cumulative power now reaches 218 hp, compared to 204 hp previously. On the previous generation, the electric battery only offered 13 kWh of capacity.
According to the brand, the first deliveries of the plug-in hybrid sedan are scheduled for the second quarter of 2025, which further delays its arrival on the market. In Selection trim, the Skoda Superb will be available from 53,020 euros, a few hundred euros more than a Volkswagen Passat eHybrid. While waiting for the model, customers can always turn to the Combi version, already available as a plug-in hybrid, but whose range is limited to 100 kilometers. Its press tests took place at the end of last year.
Towards the end of plug-in hybrids?
The announcement comes in a fairly unprecedented context for plug-in hybrids in Europe. Their fate is somewhat threatened, while the methods for measuring their CO2 emissions will become more complex. Many models could soon be penalized by a penalty, since plug-in hybrids have already lost their access to the ecological bonus at the end of 2022. Obviously, the models under threat are mainly large SUVs weighing more than 2 tonnes, whose consumption explodes once their electric battery is empty or on sections of road where the electric motor can no longer keep up.
Europe criticizes manufacturers for taking advantage of a WLTP cycle that is favorable to these hybrid models, which provide respectable consumption on paper, but would be on average 3.5 times higher in reality. In terms of fuel consumption, the new Skoda Superb iV will be among the best performers since its combustion engine is particularly frugal. With the battery empty, French journalists announced last year fuel consumption of only 5.3 litres per 100 km. Enough to limit the range to less than 4 l/100 km with the electric motor. Note that these measurements represented the Combi version. The sedan will therefore do even better.
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