Articles by Stephen Ottley

MG already had an MG4 electric hatchback, but at a moment in time when fuel prices are soaring and demand for electric vehicles is at an all-time high, the Chinese brand is introducing a second. The MG4 Urban is an all-new small car that shares little in common with its namesake. We test drive this new small electric car to see how it performs in terms of value, space and performance.

With all due respect to GAC and its plans for a new dual-cab ute — please don’t. Same goes for Hyundai, which has been talking up its plans for a ute in recent months, and Chery that has a yet-to-be-named new ute incoming. We have enough utes in this country.That might sound like a ‘click-bait, hot take’ (and it partially is) but it’s also very much true. The ute market in Australia is getting over-crowded and new additions will make it even more densely packed.Don’t take my word for it, Sean Hanley, the former sales and marketing boss of Toyota has been saying we’ve reached ‘peak ute’ for more than a year. Coming from a man who oversaw the enduring sales success of the HiLux and introduced the Tundra to Australia, that’s a notable position to take. Speaking in January 2025, Hanley said he wasn’t confident that more utes arriving would equal more sales overall.“I’m not necessarily sharing a view that it's going to grow astronomically because of the new entrants,” he said. “It may, I could be wrong, but it’ll be interesting to watch.“Looking towards the future, we already know that the number of ute models available to Australian buyers will expand rapidly. “They’ll be competing for an overall ute market that is likely to remain steady, which suggests that the average sales per model will come down as a result.”That hypothesis was proved correct when the 2025 sales were tallied. The ute segment grew only 2.7 per cent between 2024 and ‘25, despite 12 new entrants from several new brands — including Kia, BYD, MG, Foton and GWM.Go back five years and look at the difference between 2021 and ‘25 and the idea of hitting ‘peak ute’ comes into even greater focus. In that span there was 5.9 per cent sales growth but a 41 per cent increase in the available number of models. Hanley followed up his January comments with more at the launch of the new HiLux late in 2025.“So when I say the ute market's peaked, what I mean is that, well, exactly that, it's peaked. But it's still a significant market, and it will be for the future,” he told CarsGuide."But I think that whole ute market's going to be crazy for the next couple of years. So in the end it doesn't matter what I think. It matters what customers think.”Nissan Oceania Managing Director Andrew Humberstone, seemingly along with GAC and Hyundai management, believes the contrary and the ute market has increased volume in its future.“I don't want to really talk specifically about numbers, but we see certainly an increase in volume,” he told CarsGuide in December ‘25.While BYD has made strong in-roads into the ute market with the Shark 6, cementing itself as a top five selling dual-cab, the reality for most of these new players is they are attracting relatively small volumes.Kia, which set a public goal of 10,000 sales by the end of ‘25 managed less than half of that (4196), while despite a competitive price and bigger-than-average size, the MG U9 managed only 472 sales in the few months it was on sale. Foton split 177 sales between its Tunland V7 and V9 since they hit the market in late ‘25.But even some models that were on sale for the full year in 2025 fared poorly. The Jeep Gladiator found just 332 buyers, while the Isuzu D-Max, Mitsubishi Triton, Nissan Navara and Volkswagen Amarok all experienced sales drops.Of course, this story won’t stop the new utes from GAC, Hyundai and Chery coming, nor any other brand that wants to join in, but the reality is none are likely to dramatically increase the size of the overall ute market. Instead, the share of the market will just get divided up into smaller and smaller pieces.In the end, natural selection will play its part and the models that don’t sell will simply be overlooked by buyers and are likely to disappear eventually. One way or another, Australia will not have an endlessly growing number of utes to choose from.

Plug-in hybrids are all the rage at the moment. Sales of vehicles fitted with the fuel-saving technology spiked more than 130 per cent in 2025 and sales were already up more than 60 per cent in the first two months of 2026, before fuel prices started to soar.One company was well ahead of the curve on the plug-in hybrid hype, but unfortunately so far ahead its ground-breaking fizzled before it could take off.That brand? Holden.In 2012 it arrived with a lot of fanfare and hope of appealing to those who still loved a sedan but wanted something more fuel-efficient than the VE Commodore of the day. The Volt promised that, with its 1.4-litre petrol engine used exclusively to charge the batteries, never actually drive the wheels directly.At the time, Holden claimed up to 80km of driving on the batteries before the motor would kick-in, which was also ahead of the curve. There were even reports from the US, where it was developed and sold as the Chevrolet Volt, that owners who recharged regularly wouldn’t even use a full tank of petrol in a year.In theory then, it should have been a popular choice for Australian customers, as petrol prices had started to creep up and customers were looking for more efficient vehicles. As we wrote last week, Holden was pushing to make E85 and LPG a more popular option in the Commodore, but ultimately that fell flat too.The problem for the Volt was it cost $59,990, more than double what the similar-sized Holden Cruze would set you back. The argument at the time was that this cost would be absorbed by the so-called early adopters, the kind of people that spent $10,000 on the early flat-screen televisions (yes, young people, TVs used to not be flat). Whether there simply weren’t enough early adopters or because people were just too reluctant to spend $60k on a car with a Holden badge, sales of the Volt were slow before almost trickling to a halt.At the time, electric vehicles (EVs) were only just arriving and sold in incredibly small numbers. In 2012 just 253 EVs were sold in Australia, so Holden was facing a major challenge in convincing buyers to try this in-between technology no-one else was really selling.But in hindsight, if Australians had embraced PHEVs back in the 2010s, what might the new car market look like today? PHEVs had a few false starts after the Volt was pulled from sale in 2015, but in the last three years it has surged back into relevancy and looks set to continue to grow in the coming years as the government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard incentivises car makers to promote PHEVs and EVs. As 2026 plays out, the growth of PHEVs will be worth watching to see if they continue to grow in popularity even if fuel prices decline to pre-Middle East conflict levels. The pre-’26 growth suggests Australians are ready and willing to make the switch to this technology, a decade after Holden gave up on it.Holden failed in Australia because it didn’t provide the cars we wanted. Or at least that’s what we’ve been telling ourselves. Sure, the Commodore declined as the family car of choice, but Holden tried everything it could to adapt to the changing demands of the local market, only to find itself with the right car at the wrong time.

They cost too much. They cause range anxiety. There aren’t enough chargers.There is still a lot of negativity and anxiety around electric vehicles (EVs) and it has kept sales at approximately 10 per cent of the market for several years now. There have been attempts to increase sales of EVs from both the car makers and governments around the country, but regardless the sales have always hit that invisible 10 per cent cap, more or less.But that could be about to change. In fact, if it doesn’t change in the very near-future, we may be waiting a decade or longer before EVs truly become mainstream.Put simply, if EVs are to take a leap forward in terms of sales, it’s now or never (or at least, now or in the distant future).That’s because interest in EVs (and hybrids) have never been higher as fuel prices have spiked since the US and Israel began the conflict with Iran, which has had a major impact on the price of oil and the global supply chain.It has also raised the questions of Australia’s fuel security, with local refineries not currently capable of producing fuel to the same standards as the fuel we import.Geo-politics aside, Australian motorists are simply feeling the financial pain at the pump with unleaded over $2.50 per litre in much of Australia and diesel above $3 per litre and running low in supply in many areas.Searches on CarsGuide classifieds for EVs rose 230 per cent since petrol prices spiked, while searches for hybrids are up a whopping 943 per cent. Autotrader is reporting a 631 per cent jump in people searching for a new EV to buy, with a 221 per cent increase in those looking for a hybrid.Obviously these search results won’t translate to a one-for-one sale increase, but the next few months will be telling for how much Australians are willing to embrace EVs to save at the pump.Skoda happened to launch more-affordable variants of its Enyaq and Elroq EVs in mid-March, which is seemingly perfectly timed to take advantage of the current trouble times. But Skoda Australia director, Lucie Kuhn, cautioned about getting too excited too quickly on a potential dramatic sales shift towards EVs.“Maybe short term, if you're speaking about the conflict in the Middle East, of course it triggers the customers if they shouldn't start considering an electric vehicle as their future car,” she said.“If increased interest will last to such an extent, I think it depends how long the crisis will take.“But already before it has happened, we observed that out of this, in the market 65-70 per cent of customers are still driving combustion .I think already 70 per cent out of them consider, for the next purchase, to start thinking about the electric vehicle.“It doesn't mean that they will necessarily buy an electric vehicle, but they give it a serious thought and we observe that. Many customers in spite maybe in the end go for a combustion engine or maybe for the PHEV as an interim step, they at least consider having and purchasing an EV.” But what this fuel crisis may do, is get those people who have considered an EV or hybrid previously but hesitated because of the above-mentioned concerns about price, charging or range anxiety.The reality is EVs are now on-par, or in some cases cheaper, than petrol or diesel models. For example, the new MG4 Urban EV is cheaper than the similar-sized Toyota Corolla Hybrid. That doesn’t mean all EVs are cheaper than petrol or diesel equivalents, but the criticism that EVs are for “snobs that live in the eastern suburbs”, as NSW Premier Chris Minns said recently, is simply not true.Range anxiety feels like a hangover from the earlier EVs, which had less than 200km of range and needed regular charging. Most EVs on sale today are capable of 300km or more, which means a weekly charge is most likely what’s required for the majority of Australian motorists.While the concerns over the lack of public charging infrastructure is also overblown in the minds of many, with more than 1250 spread across the nation. Are there as many EV chargers as petrol bowsers? Of course not, but given the current rate of EV sales growth, the public network is growing accordingly.If you live in an urban area, there is likely to be several public chargers available, assuming you don’t have off-street parking so you can’t simply charge at home (which many Australians are capable of doing). So if you look beyond the anti-EV sentiment and put your prejudices aside, the reality of actually owning an EV is starting to look more and more appealing. They are increasingly cost-effective and help Australia wean itself off foreign oil dependency, so it’s a win-win in many respects.No, they still aren’t for every or every market (electric utes are likely to remain as popular as a steak at a vegan restaurant) but for many, namely those in urban areas, now might be the ideal time to make the switch. Whether they will or not remains to be seen.Fuel prices began to increase at the very end of February and March sales date won’t be available until after the Easter long weekend. Even so, March figures aren’t likely to show the full extent of the potential switch to EVs and hybrids. Instead, we will have to watch closely in the coming months to see if the current crisis has a significant and lasting impact on the popularity of EVs in Australia.

Skoda has seemingly done the impossible - launch a European-built electric vehicle (EV) for less than its Chinese-made rivals.The newly-launched Skoda Elroq Select 60 is priced from $49,990 drive-away, dramatically under-cutting its rivals from established brands like Hyundai, Kia and Toyota. The smaller Hyundai Kona is priced from $54,000 (plus on-road costs) while the similar-sized, but Chinese-built, Hyundai Elexio is priced from $59,990 drive-away. Even the Toyota bZ4X starts at $55,990.Where the Elroq really stands out is when you compare it to its competition from China. The  Geely EX5 starts from just $40,990 and the Leapmotor C10 costs $45,888 but the more popular BYD Sealion 7 starts at $54,990 and the Chinese-made Tesla Model Y is priced from $58,900, with both of those prices excluding on-road costs, further widening the gap between the Elroq.So how did Skoda make the Elroq so cheap? Lucie Kuhn, Skoda Australia director, was adamant that the Elroq price is not subsidized from head office, as she suggests many Chinese models are. It's continuous work,” Kuhn said. “Of course the factory develops also, in terms of purchasing strategies, developing better materials. Maybe the technologies are also improving and you have some scaling cost opportunities. So it's also a matter of negotiations with our head office to get a price that is positive in the Australian market. Because what is it good for to price the car with a high price and sell few units, it's good for nothing.”Instead, it is part of a long-term play from Skoda, and parent company Volkswagen Group, to gradually increase its share of the EV market by bringing down prices to become more competitive.“ So our strategy from the very beginning was to firmly integrate the electric portfolio into our range and to make it a relevant part,” she said.Adding: “It's not necessarily the cheapest of the cheapest, but it was never the purpose. It was to create a model that provides European values like safety, high European production standards, social responsibility and this kind of stuff, for a really good price. That positively resonates with the customer and develops some real interest there in the market.”However, there is still a huge sales chasm between the Elroq and its Chinese rivals in terms of sales. Skoda, without the price-led Select 60 variant, sold just 253 Elroq last year, compared to 13,410 BYD Sealion 7, 3944 Geely EX5 and even 579 Leapmotor C10.Kuhn knows the addition of the more-affordable variant will not suddenly rocket the Elroq up the sales order, but is designed to set the brand up for long-term, sustainable growth.“I think it is not the purpose to go with Chinese pricing,” Kuhn said. “I think we have other values to offer compared to them and have other benefits maybe than the Chinese brands. We don't know what will happen with the Chinese pricing in the future because the Chinese business is currently quite heavily subsidized there from the government to, let's say speed up and accelerate the electromobility.“Taking it as a kind of benchmark for future pricing of all the other competitors is not the way we really want it to go. I think the price for a European product, considering the fact that the car has a seven year warranty and service pack, I would say it's really good.”

Somewhere there is a former Holden engineer or executive saying ‘I told you so…’As Australians scramble amid a surge in fuel prices brought on by war in the Middle East, it has highlighted some key decisions the country has made in the past 15 years that have left us in this current predicament.A large part of the mild-panic over potential fuel rationing and sky-high prices is because Australia decided about 15 years ago it didn’t want to actually make things and simply import everything we need. That has left us largely dependent on outside suppliers for our fuel, as well as every car we drive.But it didn’t have to be this way. Holden (and Ford, to a slightly lesser degree) both tried to appeal to the unique Australian audience and reduced our dependence on foreign oil. I’m talking about the VE Commodore, which was offered with both LPG (liquified petroleum gas) and E85.For those unfamiliar with those fuel types, let me quickly bring you up to speed. LPG is one of Australia’s biggest natural resources. It’s still widely available at service stations though and typically costs around half of what petrol costs.E85 is a more sustainable fuel, a blend of 85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent petrol. Australia is able to produce high volumes of ethanol as it can be made from the byproduct of sugar cane production and other sustainable sources.The introduction of both the LPG and E85 to the Commodore range was meant to make the large car more fuel efficient, as Holden was still hoping the SUV trend was a fad (spoiler: it wasn’t), while also taking advantage of the very Australian-specific resources available. It was, in effect, meant to be a closed-loop solution - starting and finishing within Australian shores.At the time, Holden called E85 “the first major step forward in our efforts to move renewable fuels like bio-ethanol from a niche product into the mainstream.” (Spoiler: it wasn’t).In the context of 2026, if you had a car with either LPG or E85 you wouldn’t be stressing about the sudden surge in petrol prices so much, because there would be far less volatility in the price as neither would be directly impacted by the Middle East conflict.This is why manufacturing things in Australia is important and it’s why brands like Holden and Ford (which produced an LPG version of the FG Falcon) tried to retain local production, while also embracing broader industries.Unfortunately, there are numerous reasons why that was not possible and instead we find ourselves in the present situation, reliant on both oil and refined petrol to be imported from foreign companies that are at the mercy of the global supply chain.To be fair, E85 didn’t even last until the VF Commodore, with the fuel never really gaining enough traction with either motorists or service stations. So it became a vicious cycle of supply and demand killing off the E85-capable Commodore less than five years after it launched.The problem Australia now faces is we are reliant on foreign oil and that impacts our fuel security, as many people (including politicians) are seemingly learning in real time. And you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. Holden is gone, LPG is just for the select few and E85 is more common on racetracks than roads.But perhaps there is hope for the future of Australian energy independence, while at the same time helping to make us greener too. HIF Global, with the high-profile support of Porsche, is continuing development of a planned e-Fuels facility in Tasmania.First announced back in 2022, the facility would produce e-Methanol, a carbon neutral liquid fuel that can effectively replace petrol in existing cars. While it still produces tailpipe emissions, the process of producing the fuel removes harmful carbon emissions from the air, thus making it carbon neutral.Porsche has been a major advocate for these e-Fuels, investing in HIF Global to develop the first pilot plant in Chile before expanding into Australia and the USA to increase global e-Fuel supply. The original plan called for the Tasmanian facility to be operational by the end of this year, which would seemingly have been ideal timing, but that date has drifted back.Will it be a case of ‘second time lucky’ for Australia embracing more environmentally-friendly, locally-produced fuel that can reduce our dependency on foreign oil? Only time will tell if Porsche can succeed where Holden failed.

As the great philosopher, Kermit the Frog, famously said: "It’s not easy being green."It is getting easier being a ‘green’ car company in Australia, as more and more motorists make the switch to electrification. And for Skoda, the Czech brand with the green logo, this is the perfect time to start leveraging its broad array of mild-hybrids, battery electric vehicles and, perhaps most timely of all, plug-in hybrids (PHEV).That’s what we’re reviewing here, the Skoda Kodiaq PHEV, which joins the local line-up at just the right moment. PHEVs are all the rage at the moment, with China leading the charge (pardon the pun), but with the European brands quickly catching up.PHEV sales are up ‘only’ 62.5 per cent in the first two months of 2026, which is noticeably down on 2025’s massive 130 per cent sales boom. It’s still a growing segment, coming off a low base, but it is clear that Australians are embracing PHEVs more than ever before.Only a few years ago many brands dismissed the technology as only a ‘bridge’ towards fully electric vehicles and therefore of limited appeal. But as some Australians remain reluctant to go ‘all-electric’ in a hurry, Skoda anticipates that PHEV will actually be a “long bridge” that could span a decade or more in this country.So with that in mind, is the Kodiaq PHEV the right car at the right time? Or another case of so close, yet so far for a brand that continues to find itself as a niche offering despite closing in on two decades in Australia.The on-paper specifications look promising. The Kodiaq PHEV system combines a 110kW turbocharged petrol engine with an 85kW electric motor (integrated into the transmission) to produce a combined output of 150kW, paired to a 25.7kWh lithium-ion battery. That battery provides enough energy for up to 110km of electric-only driving, according to Skoda, while helping it achieve a claimed fuel economy figure of 1.9L/100km.And it does all this in a large SUV capable of fitting a family of five in comfort. That's right, while the petrol Kodiaqs are all seven-seaters, the PHEV is a five-seat-only proposition. So if you need a third seating row, best look elsewhere.What typically sets Skoda apart from its rivals is its thoughtful design, with the so-called ‘simply clever’ touches, like the pop-out door edge protectors, cleaner for the touchscreen and rubbish bins in the door pockets.While these sorts of things may seem like small, inconsequential elements, they are often very helpful in the day-to-day life of driving a family vehicle. For example, there is an extra storage compartment in the rear, which gives your kids or friends a place to stow their bottles and other small items.From a technology and presentation perspective the Kodiaq does a nice job fitting into a space above the mainstream. There’s a 10-inch digital instrument display and a 13-inch multimedia screen and a pair of wireless smartphone charging pads.Also of note, despite most of the multimedia system being run via the touchscreen, Skoda utilises its ‘smart dials’ for easier, on-the-move, functionality for the air-conditioning and driving modes. For those unfamiliar, these ‘smart dials’ can perform multiple functions as they can change through different menus with a press and then you rotate them to adjust. As an example, you can switch between fan speed and drive modes by pressing the centre of the three dials.So, how does this smart new powertrain and clever interior stack up on the road? Well, there’s good news and some not-so-good news for Skoda.On the plus side, the Kodiaq drives with the sort of direct and responsive nature we expect from Volkswagen Group vehicles. They have a firmness to the ride that translates to a more dynamic and engaging driving experience compared to your average, mainstream large SUV. It’s certainly a cut above what you get from some Chinese-built PHEV rivals.The powertrain did a good job of seamlessly switching between the various options it has. Over more than 150km of driving, mostly on open roads to the south of Sydney, we saw a return of 3.8L/100km on the Kodiaq’s own trip computer. Obviously that’s a lot more than the official claim, but with more urban, stop-start driving, getting closer to, or even below, 3.0L/100km seems achievable, and would be a good result for an SUV of this size.As for the negatives, unfortunately for those who have driven previous generation Skodas (or Volkswagens) this new Kodiaq just doesn’t feel as solid and as refined as before. Most notable is the door rattles, particularly noticeable on bumpy back roads. It’s very uncharacteristic for Skoda, but it’s the same experience we had when we test drove the Volkswagen Tayron (the Kodiaq’s German twin) and it suggests there has been some sort of change behind-the-scenes that has impacted the build quality the brands were once renowned for.It’s especially disappointing when you consider the price, $63,490 plus on-road costs or a current drive-away deal of $68,990, which means it’s not a cheap car and should have a semi-premium feel to it.Still, that’s a competitive price amongst its direct rivals, the Mazda CX-80 PHEV starts at $75,750 (plus on-roads) and the Kia Sorento PHEV range kicks off at $71,130 (plus on-roads). But with the new BYD Sealion 8 arriving with a seven-seat option from $56,990 (plus on-roads) and the Chery Tiggo 8 starts at just $45,990 drive-away, it won’t be easy for Skoda to cash in on the PHEV fandom.

The future for this standout small car doesn't look so promising.Skoda Australia director Lucie Kuhn admitted sales of the Scala are not enough to keep the Mazda3 rival in stock. In 2025 Skoda Australia sold just 249 Scala, which ironically was more than the Superb (199) but well-short of even the second worst-selling small car, the out-going Kia Cerato, which still managed to find 1094 buyers. The overall small car market was down more than 20 per cent.Instead, the Scala is now an ‘order only’ option for customers and dealers who really want one of the small cars, with Kuhn admitting its long-term future is uncertain. “ Scala is currently a model that we are running some analysis on it,” she said. “Because you are exactly right, the segment is very small here in Australia. We will probably keep the car going, probably just being available in a factory order. Just because you might always have customers that might be interested in having the car, but the volume is relatively small, I would say.”Skoda is committing to another slow seller, though.Where once the mighty Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon fought for sales supremacy, now a single, unlikely, survivor remains. And it has no plans on giving up the fight.The Skoda Superb is the only ‘large car under $70,000’ still on sale in 2026. Even the medium sedan segment is a shadow of its former glory days, with the Skoda Octavia competing against the Toyota Camry, BYD Seal, Hyundai Sonata and Honda Accord.But Skoda has no plans to give up on its sedans and wagons anytime soon. Speaking to CarsGuide at the launch of the new plug-in hybrid Kodiaq SUV, Kuhn said the brand remains committed to its sedans and wagons.“I  think this is something that the customers say,” Kuhn said. “The market is obviously going in more and more in the direction of SUVs year-by-year, this share is growing. But if you have a look in the car parks or on the streets, you still see plenty of sedans and plenty of wagons. So this is where we feel and see our opportunity that, in spite of the new car sales trend is growing and getting more into the SUV direction, there is still a massive car park of the sedan and wagon drivers. And this, we feel is an opportunity because as you said, we are one of the best brands who offer this kind of choice.”Skoda is so determined to give Australian buyers who shun SUVs choice so much so that it will actually expand the Superb line-up in 2026. The Czech brand is adding the new Select plug-in hybrid (PHEV) wagon variant alongside the existing Sportline sedan and wagon.This new option shares the same 110kW/350Nm PHEV powertrain as the Kodiaq and will be priced from $66,990 drive-away.

Never in my more than 20 years of writing about cars has a new car confused me so much as the Skoda Enyaq Select 60.It didn’t help that Skoda Australia launched it right alongside the Elroq Select 60, because the two cars share the same platform and much of the same design. The key difference being the Enyaq is slightly longer but, they share an identical wheelbase.Its similar looks and price with the Elroq do mean you have to pay attention to the details. And if you do, and look closely at those details, you become less confused about the Enyaq Select 60 and start to become impressed.That’s because this new addition to the Czech brand’s line-up is very much targeted at the more affordable end of the electric, mid-size SUV market. We’ll get to the specifications in a moment, but the most important figure is the price - $50,990 plus on-road costs. Considering the closely-related Volkswagen ID.4 is priced from $59,990, the Toyota bZ4X starts at $55,990, Subaru’s Solterra starts at $63,990 and even the new Hyundai Elexio is priced from $58,990, Skoda has positioned the new Select 60 variant very, very competitively in the increasingly crowded electric SUV space.However, more importantly, the popular Chinese mid-size EVs, such as the BYD Sealion 7 (from $54,990), Zeekr 7X (from $57,900) and Deepal S07 (from $53,900) are all more expensive too, meaning Skoda has positioned itself as a genuine rival to some of the most popular EVs in the country.And that’s before you factor in the current drive-away price of just $54,990 that Skoda Australia is introducing this new Enyaq with. That should put it on the radar for anyone looking at any sort of mid-size EV at the moment, regardless of brand or where it’s built.Obviously, to achieve this price Skoda has had to make some cuts, but that doesn’t mean the Select 60 is a stripped-out shell. On the contrary it comes with all the important stuff and a bit extra.This includes a 13-inch infotainment screen, a 5.0-inch digital instrument display, tri-zone climate control, keyless entry and start, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, LED lighting and 19-inch alloy wheels. What’s missing is leather-trimmed seats and other plush elements, but the cloth-trimmed seats look nice and overall the cabin treatment is simple but sophisticated.It also has Skoda’s trademark ‘simply clever’ features, like an umbrella housed in the driver’s door and a small pop-down handle to help close the boot.There’s also plenty of safety equipment, including adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist, rear cross-traffic alert, turn assist, a rear-view camera and Volkswagen Group’s mild autonomous ‘Traffic Assist’ functionality.In terms of technical specifications, the Select 60 isn’t the same as the more expensive Sportline 85 model. This cheaper variant’s rear-mounted electric motor makes 150kW and has a 410km range from its 63kWh battery.The more expensive Enyaq offers up 210kW and 547km of range thanks to an 82kWh battery, so this is clearly an area where Skoda has been able to save money and pass that onto customers.Unless you jump into the Enyaq Select 60 straight after driving the more potent variant, chances are you’ll be more than happy with the performance its powertrain offers. It’s certainly not a ludicrously fast EV, but it isn’t trying to be and offers up smooth, effortless performance that will make it an ideal SUV for urban duties.However, the somewhat unusual rear-engine layout (which is becoming more common in two-wheel-drive EVs) combined with the experience and knowledge from Skoda and the wider VW Group means the Enyaq is a pleasure to drive on the open road.On winding and flowing country roads, the Enyaq feels stable, responsive and composed, which is not something all of its rivals can claim, particularly those from newer brands to Australia. Even the traditionally firm European ride feels more forgiving and less harsh than many rival models, with Skoda/VW clearly doing a good job of controlling the weight despite the heavy batteries; a challenge for even some of the so-called ‘legacy’ carmakers.Given its design, presentation, performance and, most importantly its price, perhaps the most confusing aspect of the Enyaq Select 60 is why Skoda remains overlooked by so many EV buyers.Yes, there are bigger names in the market (even though Skoda is closing in on its 20th anniversary in Australia) but the brand has clearly been usurped by many newer brands when it comes to EV buyers looking to make their next purchase.

Chinese electric cars are too cheap, they are heavily subsidised by the Chinese government and no other carmaker, particularly those from Europe, can ever get close on price.Right? Well, maybe not.Skoda has emerged as an unlikely challenger to the Chinese electric brands, with the new Elroq Select 60 not only rivalling the best from China on technology but also beating them on price. It almost sounds too good to be true, but it might be the best-value, electric, mid-size SUV available on the market as I type this.Think I’m being hyperbolic? Well, consider this. The new Elroq Select 60 is priced from $49,990 drive-away. For comparison, the much smaller Hyundai Kona is priced from $54,000 (plus on-road costs) and the similar-sized, Chinese-built, Hyundai Elexio starts at $59,990 drive-away, so right away the value is obvious. But then, when you compare it to what the Chinese are offering, the deal starts to look even better. Yes, there are cheaper options, such as the $40,990 Geely EX5 and $45,888 Leapmotor C10, but neither can match the Elroq in terms of quality, both in terms of design and driving dynamics.In terms of pure popularity, the BYD Sealion 7 is one of the most popular electric SUVs on the market, behind the Chinese-made Tesla Model Y. Both of those models cost more, significantly so, with the BYD starting from $54,990 and the Model Y from $58,900 - both of those prices exclude on-road costs.When you compare the Elroq to other electric mid-size SUVs, the value equation looks even better, the Toyota bZ4X starts at $55,990, the Subaru Solterra is priced from $63,990 and notable Zeekr 7X starts from $57,900.What makes the Elroq Select 60 even more impressive is, while it has less equipment than the other variants in the range, it still comes well-specced for the price. Standard equipment includes 19-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and tail-lights, keyless entry and start, a 13-inch infotainment screen, a 5.0-inch digital instrument display, dual-zone climate control and heated front seats. Yes, there are cloth seats, instead of leather, and the trims used in the cabin are less premium than more expensive alternatives, but the overall level of fit and finish in the cabin leaves a positive impression.Further to that are the ‘simply clever’ features that are a Skoda trademark, like an umbrella housed in the driver’s door and the mobile phone pockets on the back seats, which add to the positive impression of the cabin and the feeling of value.Skoda has also included an array of passive and active safety features, including adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist, rear cross-traffic alert, turn assist and a rear-view camera as well as Volkswagen Group’s mild autonomous ‘Traffic Assist’ functionality.While it’s a generous amount of safety, it could do with some fine-tuning for the real world. In particular the active lane keeping assistance, which asks you regularly to take control of the steering wheel on the freeway, even when you have your hands firmly placed on it. It needs a significant amount of torque applied, enough for the Elroq to move in the lane, or it will sound an alert and vibrate your steering wheel.The net result of this system is you need to noticeably veer in your lane on the freeway every minute or so, which is not particularly safe and would likely get you pulled over by the police if they were following you. Skoda isn’t the only brand with such a system, but it’s yet another example of modern active safety needing improvement in real-world conditions rather than being rushed into cars to meet on-paper safety requirements.In terms of powertrain specifications, the Elroq Select 60 gets a unique powertrain compared to the rest of the range, which currently includes the 85 Select and 130 Years Edition; the latter of which will be replaced later this year by the new Elroq Sportline.Unlike the 210kW/545Nm powertrain in those models, this cheaper option gets a single, rear-mounted electric motor good for 150kW and 310Nm. It also has a smaller battery, 63kWh instead of 82kWh, which provides a driving range of 395km. Skoda also claims a ‘city range’ of more than 500km, for those who plan to primarily drive in the urban environment, so while the overall range is a significant drop from the 529km for the 85 Select, the range is still very liveable for most people.Perhaps where the Elroq shines best, and most clearly sits ahead of its Chinese rivals, is its on-road driving dynamics. The rear-mounted motor, and therefore rear-wheel drive layout, means the Elroq feels more like driving a premium sedan than a modern SUV. The steering is responsive and direct, while the suspension manages to find a nice balance between controlling the weight of the car and not jarring the occupants on every bump. The chassis has the firmness you expect from a Volkswagen Group product, which only helps that responsive, dynamic feeling even further.But around town, at lower speeds, it feels quiet and comfortable, so it feels like it would be an easy SUV to live with.