1989 Volkswagen Kombi Transporter Reviews

Earlier this month, Audi unveiled a retro-inspired small electric vehicle that is a homage to a car that failed a quarter of a century ago. Spectacularly.Chances are the timely and handsome new A2 will succeed where the overpriced and oddly styled original from 2001 could not, but referencing a flop seems risky.It’s like Ford reviving the AU Falcon (though to be fair it is having a moment), or General Motors exhuming Holden with an ode to the ZB Commodore. Or Epica.Which has us thinking: this isn’t the first time that nostalgia, perhaps served with a side plate of delusion, has led to some confounding decisions.Whether they sold or were received poorly, we outline five resurrections that flopped.And if you disagree, let us know why in the comments below.How the millennial Monaro came about requires context.Holden enjoyed two golden eras: the early years, and for half a decade from 1997, after the then-new VT Commodore became a runaway smash hit.And the next year’s Australian International Motor Show in Sydney was pivotal.Codenamed Monica, the 1998 Holden Coupe Concept – essentially a VT with two doors, a slightly more-rakish windscreen and four (lower) seats – stole the show like no other car ever had before or since.At the time, Holden wasn’t even planning to build it. After all, coupe shelf lives are notoriously short. The original HK Monaro of 1968 proved popular initially, but its HQ-HX successors from 1971 struggled.The Coupe Concept utterly overshadowed Ford’s debuting AU Falcon at the Sydney show, made national news and created a buzz that helped bolster the brand. It was nothing short of sensational. Journalists immediately dubbed it Monaro, something Holden was understandably wary of.Despite what some articles today state, the resulting V2 Monaro failed to meet internal sales expectations when it arrived far later than scheduled, in November, 2001.Priced beyond most buyers’ reach from nearly $95,000 adjusted for inflation today, it went on to account for only a fraction of Commodore volume, at 4274 versus 88,478 units, putting it at 47 spot.From there, sales never improved, and the US-market Pontiac GTO export version of 2004 also failed to find a large-enough audience.By then, GM was floundering as the world moved away from sedans and coupes, in favour of SUVs, with the planned next-generation VE Monaro promptly canned, save for the 2008 Coupe 60 Concept to celebrate Holden’s 60 Anniversary.The Datsun 1600 is regarded as one of Japan’s earliest greats.Launched in 1967, it combined elegant styling with European-style chassis sophistication, to create a brilliant little sedan that dominated world rallying as effortlessly as it won over owners’ hearts.However, the larger and heavier 180B and 200B replacements of 1972 and 1976 respectively completely lacked the 1600’s sporty charm.Stung by widespread criticism, Datsun attempted to recreate the magic with the Stanza in 1978.But, built down to a price, it sorely lacked the fun and finesse that endeared so many owners to the old 1600. Critics were ruthless in their reviews. And though relatively popular and successful in motorsport, the Stanza couldn’t replicate the old 1600’s greatness and lasted only a single generation in Australia.By all objective means, any NSX is a masterpiece.Be it the exquisite 1990 NA1 original that became the first mid-engined supercar in history to love you back, or the NC1 tri-electric motor petrol/hybrid AWD successor of 2016 that was a breathtaking technological showcase, the name signifies engineering mastery.However, while neither generation achieved the sales volumes Honda required, the original has enjoyed a glorious afterlife as one of the all-time sports car greats.But the latter? Sadly, the second – or American – NSX remains misunderstood as being too advanced, and not “analogue” enough for drivers to truly connect with. That Honda cancelled it early (except in Japan) has not helped.Maybe the NC1 was just a decade before its time. Still an amazing achievement.One of Japan’s earliest Volkswagen Golf clones, the Pulsar became a beloved small-car staple in Australia over 25 years and six generations from 1980.That was until Nissan was forced to switch to a smaller replacement with awkward styling, ambitious pricing and a silly name.Inevitably, the 2006 Tiida tanked, even as Australians were clamouring towards smaller cars in the wake of soaring fuel prices. This was the era where the Mazda 3 and Toyota Corolla were king, but Nissan missed the party completely.The reason why the Pulsar ended was that it never properly challenged the Golf, so instead Nissan devised the Qashqai crossover, which immediately became a sales phenomenon.Somehow, Nissan Australia convinced a reluctant Japan to allow the redesigned Tiida hatch of 2012 to be rebadged Pulsar, along with the Thai market Sylphy sedan.Hopes were high of a sales revival but neither interloper possessed the required sophistication or appeal to lure local consumers back. Both Pulsar iterations never saw out their model cycle.The rear-engined air-cooled Beetle, which changed comparatively little between 1937 and 2003, remains the world’s best-selling vehicle of all time, at 21.5 million units.In contrast, the Toyota Corolla regenerated 12 times to date for it to find 50 million buyers.The re-imagined New Beetle, released globally in 1997 and 2000 in Australia, based on the versatile Golf IV architecture and built inexpensively in Mexico, sold strongly at first.But demand tapered off markedly as per most fashion statements, especially when BMW’s Mini reset the bar for retro remakes from 2001.However, after nearly 1.2 million units, VW’s third attempt, officially known as the “The Beetle”, struggled from the outset in 2012, despite featuring significantly more sophisticated drivetrains.Gone by 2019, barely 550,000 units were produced worldwide.

Volkswagen has built the slipperiest car on Earth, breaking records for aerodynamics and energy efficiency on a production approved vehicle with its Mission Efficiency and it could dramatically change the way our cars look soon.Volkswagen celebrated its record breaking Mission Efficiency after a 1278km trip from Wolfsburg to Vienna that took them across Germany, Poland, Czechia and Austria from Wolfsburg to Vienna.It was only charged once, which doesn’t sound like a huge accomplishment given we have electric cars that are now reaching 600-700km on a full charge. What’s so impressive is that this was done with a relatively small battery and incredible efficiency.Volkswagen has a history of pushing the limits of efficiency and its XL 1, which was built from 2014-2016, had a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.189 and has held the record ever since for a production car. Just to put that in context an official Olympic approved arrow has a Cd of between 1.5-2.0.Now, the two-door, four-seater Mission Efficiency has broken the XL 1’s record with a Cd of 0.158. That beats anything currently on the market. The most aerodynamic production vehicles you can actually buy include the Mercedes-Benz EQS with a Cd of about 2.0, Mercedes-Benz CLA Ev with 0.21Cd and the Porsche Taycan with a Cd of 0.22.The Mission Efficiency's slipperiness is down to its tear-drop shape, small frontal area, clad rear wheels and a fully clad underbody. Door handles are integrated into the body and the windows are frameless to help the vehicle slide through the air. Powering the Mission Efficiency is a single 99kW motor driving the front wheels - the same unit used in the new ID.Polo small hatch. What’s impressive is the battery size, it’s a 54.9kWh Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt (NMC) unit.Solar panels on the roof power on-board electronics. The Mission Efficiency drove 1278km from Wolfsburg to Vienna, charging only once with 164.0km of range remaining on completion.The impressive part about this is the efficiency. The real average energy consumption of the Mission Efficiency over this distance was 6.89kWh/100km. In comparison the Mercedes-Benz EQS  has an average energy consumption of 15.6kWh/100km. Volkswagen's Mission Efficiency is not intended to be mass-produced and sold, so the real accomplishment here is that this vehicle was able to achieve outstanding efficiency using all regular road approved equipment and technology.Volkswagen’s CEO Thomas Schäfer said Mission Efficiency shows what the brand can do with current technology that can be incorporated easily into upcoming vehicles. “Mission Efficiency is the ideal way to demonstrate what distinguishes Volkswagen in the electric age: technology for the masses – not just for the few. “Rather than using specialist technology, the vehicle set its three world records using affordable production technology from the ID. Polo and ID. Cross, based on the MEB+ platform with front-wheel drive. This shows how much potential efficiency we can add to the latest generation of our electric cars.”

We now know the truth about how long a car battery will last.Austrian battery diagnostics specialist Aviloo has worked out which vehicles perform best when it comes to an EV battery’s state of health (SoH) over time and distance.In its 2026 Certified EV Battery Report the company has analysed more than 500,000 Aviloo ‘Flash Test’ results from 2022 to 2026 across 20 high-volume electric car models in North and South America, Europe, Australia and Asia to determine the best performers.The flash test is a three-minute diagnostic check that assesses the health and performance of an electric vehicle's high-voltage traction battery.Rather than registering a value reported by the car's on-board battery management system, the flash test “independently calculates SoH using a statistical model trained on hundreds of thousands of comparable used vehicles, factoring in mileage, age, (charge) cycle count, cell voltage spread, energy counters and other diagnostic signals.”In releasing its results Aviloo made the point that, buyers of used internal-combustion cars rely on odometer readings and service records, but was not the most accurate way to tell an EV battery's state. “The battery is the single most expensive component of an electric car, and the one with the widest variation from vehicle to vehicle.“Two used electric cars with 50,000 kilometres on the odometer might present in what appears to be identical condition but can differ by up to 10 percentage points in battery SoH,” it said.The data reflects three mileage milestones (50,000, 100,000 and 150,000 kilometres), identifying the SoH range covering 99 percent of all independently tested vehicles of that model. The company made the point, “Battery health varied within each of the 20 models tested, between models and, above all, between individual vehicles of the same model. An average per model therefore says little about a specific car."SoH can vary by up to 13.5 percentage points between the best and weakest examples of the same model,” it said.As a result the median serves as the reference point in each case.The spread across the 20 models tested was already clear at the 50,000km mark with four examples highlighted for more detailed analysis in line with their different sizes, typical use and battery types.Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 had the best SoH of the four models, with range barely falling from 335 to 321km and a spread of 37 kilometres between the extremes recorded.As one of Europe’s best-selling EVs, the VW ID.4’s potential range fell from 373 to 355km, with up to 44km between the best and the weakest vehicle at 150,000km.The Tesla Model Y, the world's best-selling car for the last three years, saw its real-world range fall from 379 to 361km at 150,000km, with a 46-kilometre difference between the best and the weakest example tested.The Nissan Nissan Leaf ZE1, with the smallest (40kWh) battery of the four models highlighted the finding that smaller batteries with more frequent charging cycles age faster on average. Across all three mileage levels analysed, the Nissan had the lowest SoH of the four models examined in detail, with its real-world range dropping from 195 to 185km.Other models that performed well after 150,000km travelled were the Mercedes-Benz EQA (93.97 SoH), BMW i4 (93.62), Hyundai Kona EV (92.95), Volvo XC40 Recharge (92.79), Ford Mustang Mach-E (92.53) and Polestar 2 (92.46).Some that didn't fare as well were the Renault Zoe (87.33) and Tesla Model 3 (88.94).Commenting on the report Aviloo CEO Dr. Marcus Berger said, “The truth in this data is that averages hide a lot. “Yes, electric car batteries age better than the myth of rapid wear suggests, but that is not the most important finding. “What matters is that battery health varies widely between models, and even more widely between individual vehicles of the same model,” he said.The Aviloo Certified EV Battery Report will now be published twice a year, drawing on the company’s global diagnostics database, which holds more than one million independent tests. 

Volkswagen appears to have a  monster hit on its hands, as buyers line-up to get their hands on its latest machine.The new Volkswagen ID.Polo electric hatchback has more than 30,000 pre-orders, according to AutoNews.The frantic rush of buyers trying to jump into a ID.Polo has overwhelmed the brands expectations, with customers now facing a 10 month wait.Volkswagen’s little electric car has just gone on sale in Europe, and it appears its success will mean any future Australian arrival could be pushed back to meet demand on the continent.The German brand’s new entry-level electric car will go head-to-head with the new wave of cut-price EVs from China, such as the MG4, BYD Dolphin and GWM Ora 5.It is priced from the equivalent of about $41,000 in Germany, so expect it to be more if it arrives Down Under.Volkswagen is offering three electric motor choices: 85kW, 99kW or 155kW. The German brand has also confirmed a 166kW GTI version, but it won’t launch until next year in Europe.Lower grade versions will use a 37kWh battery, offering a driving range of 329km (WLTP), while higher specifications get 454km (WLTP) of range from a 52kWh unit. Volkswagen has previously said the ID.Polo has a max charging rate of 105kW. The ID.Polo is spawning a range of electric cars including the Volkswagen ID.Cross little electric SUV, Skoda Epiq and Cupra Raval.AutoNews also reported the ID.Cross had received very strong interest ahead of its arrival in European showrooms later this year.Skoda’s version of the ID.Polo, the Epiq, also has more than 35,000 orders.“The Epiq is generating very strong customer interest. We have clearly struck a nerve,” a Skoda spokesperson told Autonews.Cupra’s version, called Raval, also has a long wait list, with reports the Raval and Epiq orders stretch into May of 2027.Volkswagen has been struggling recently as sales in China, and of its first round of global electric cars, failed to fire.It has also experienced huge issues with its CARIAD software department, which has been losing billions of dollars.Volkswagen’s board has recently approved to cut 50,000 jobs, close several factories, cut half of the group’s models and even possibly delete the Seat brand.

Having spent three months living with a Volkswagen ID.5 this year and knowing that it’s reportedly set to be discontinued, I can now tell you what I really think of this electric mid-sized SUV.Well, I always tell you what I really think and you can read my long-term review of the ID.5 where I call out where it missed the mark. But it still bothers me that Volkswagen dropped the ball so badly with its first electric car (alongside the ID.4) for Australia.If you don’t know the ID.5 is an SUV about the size of a Volkswagen Tiguan and it’s the coupe-ish version its ID.4 twin. At about $63,000 it's the same price as a mid-range Tiguan, too. The problem is, it's not a Tiguan.Fortunately it appears Volkswagen has realised this and the ID.5 looks set to eventually be axed and the ID.4 will be replaced by a new model called the ID.Tiguan.Volkswagen would be hoping that the overhaul addresses the ID.4 and 5's issues. With Chinese car companies gaining so much ground Volkswagen can’t afford to get it wrong.Really the issues with the ID.5 and ID.4 are to do with practicality and utility which are two of the pillars on which Volkswagen has built its reputation.The ID.4 and ID.5 have poor practicality and utility compared to other mid-sized electric SUVs and there’s absolutely no excuse. We rate cars based on whether they are fit for purpose and neither of those models are fit for purpose as a family SUV.Passenger space isn’t great, cabin storage is almost non-existent, the boot size isn’t large enough and there's no front boot.It boggles my mind that a car with a 2.8m wheelbase (the Tiguan’s is 2.7m) and with no bulky combustion engine, transmission or driveshaft eating into the passenger cell could have such poor cabin space and storage.Again, this is coming from a family car perspective. If you don't require that much space or utility, it's a lovely EV to drive.Volkswagen Group’s Head of Design Klaus Zyciora oversaw the ID.4 and ID.5. He’d been with Volkswagen for 35 years and worked on everything from the Mk IV Golf onwards, including the Tiguan. There are videos of Zyciora walking us through the design of the ID.4 and ID.5 and, like a detective trying to put the pieces of a crime together, I’ve watched them to discover the motive behind this automotive misdemeanour.I do like the exterior design of the ID.4 and ID.5 with its curvy and muscular lines, and the interior is also visually pleasing in a minimalist way, but the car is a perfect example of form over function.Well it’s not Zyciora’s problem any more. He's now Vice President and Global Head of Design for Chinese carmaker Changan. Zycior was replaced by Michael Mauer in 2023 as Volkswagen Group’s new design boss. Mauer arrived having designed every Porsche since 2004 inside and out, and while that also includes the polarising 2007 Cayenne facelift, he also penned the beautiful 991 911, 918 Spyder, Macan and Taycan.With Zycior gone, Mauer would have been part of the clean-up team to fix the ID.4 and ID.5 before handing over the reins to the Group’s current design chief Andreas Mindt in 2026. By the time Mindt arrived in March this year the ID.Tiguan had been snapped cold weather testing in Germany a month before.Will the new ID.Tiguan come with all the practicality and utility problems fixed? It will be based on the MEB+ platform which is an evolution of what underpins the ID.4 and ID.5, so hopefully.It’s likely the ID.Tiguan will be revealed this year and go on sale in 2027. When will it come to Australia? Well, it took the ID.4 and ID.5 five years to reach us after they launched in Europe but I doubt we will be waiting that long this time.But when it does arrive you can bet I’ll be checking to see if VW dropped the ball again or if they got it right.

It has become the great debate in the car industry - have we reached peak ute?Put simply, has the ute market hit its sales limit in terms of volume or can new models and variants attract new buyers to the segment? The answer to these questions is crucial to the future success or failure of some of Australia's most successful new vehicles, as well as highly anticipated newcomers.Looking at the data, it seems like there is a limit on just how many utes Australians are willing and able to buy. In 2025 the ute segment grew only 2.7 per cent over 2024, despite 12 new entrants from several new brands - including Kia, BYD, MG, Foton and GWM.Things have not improved in the first eight months of 2026, sales of utes remain down, especially in the 4x4 segment which has recorded an 13.6 per cent drop.This ‘peak ute’ debate began in January 2025 thanks to comments from then-Toyota Australia boss, Sean Hanley, who admitted 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.”However, Hanley’s comments have naturally created some push back across the industry, and Volkswagen is the latest brand to weigh in on the debate. Michael Cenci, Volkswagen Australia Product Manager for the Amarok, suggested that Toyota’s perspective on the ute market is driven out of concern for how the latest generation HiLux will perform, as it is an updated, rather than all-new model.Cenci was talking at the introduction of the new Amarok W600, the locally developed special edition of the German brand’s ute built in partnership with Walkinshaw Automotive Group.Positioned as a ‘driver’s car’ rather than an off-road-focused ute like the Ford Ranger Raptor, Mitsubishi Triton Raider and Nissan Navara Warrior, Cenci believes it gives the brand a chance to find clear space in the segment.“ It's a tricky question,” Cenci admitted. “I personally think that wasn't said from a position of strength. I think since that comment was made, there's been so much innovation in the segment, and so many new players, that I don't think you can honestly say that peak ute was reached three, four years ago, however long it was."There's always something new. There's always new avenues to explore. We're exploring one right now. We've created a zig instead of a zag, as you said. We're doing stuff that no one else is doing and that's what innovation in the space is all about. So I don't think we've reached peak ute.“In terms of sales numbers, and as you spoke about before, cutting the pie thinner and thinner. Maybe that's one perspective to look at it, but I don't think that was the intention of the comment. I think the comment was more to do with the actual vehicle offering itself. And I don't believe that's true, no.”Cenci is seemingly referring to the success of newer models like the BYD Shark 6, a plug-in hybrid ute from a Chinese brand with no history in the segment which has still managed to become a sales force. This could be interpreted as an opportunity for other brands to broaden their appeal by offering newer, more efficient powertrain choices than the traditional turbo-diesel engine.But it also explains Volkswagen’s attitude towards the Amarok, specifically the W600, which is designed to be deliberately different from its would-be competitors. “That's the exciting part of the automotive industry,” added Annette Moelhoff, Volkswagen Australia Senior Communications Manager. “It's ever-evolving, ever-changing. I don't think there is such a thing as peak because there's always fresh new ideas and innovative approaches like we've taken with the W600.”

Believe it or not, the VW Group’s Spanish subsidiary, Seat, was officially on sale in Australia in the late 1990s with the Toledo liftback, Ibiza small hatch and its Cordoba sedan sibling.And although they never came here, at that stage Cupra was the umbrella under which the brand’s performance variants were marketed.Now, in a case of the offspring outmaneuvering its parent, it looks like Seat is about to be the Volkswagen Group’s first brand casualty as the German giant’s financial woes continue.According to overnight reports out of Europe, VW is considering retiring the Seat brand by 2029 to focus on the future of Cupra, a stand-alone subsidiary for the past eight years.The Autocar report claims the proposal has been approved by Volkswagen's management board, and is due to go before the supervisory board for final sign-off tonight, our time (Friday, September 4).Cupra has sold more than one million cars worldwide so far, now comfortably outselling Seat domestically and globally with the former delivering a record 170,100 cars during the first half of 2026, compared to the latter’s 129,600.The retirement plan would see Seat disappear from Volkswagen Group's brand portfolio by the end of the decade (at which point it will have been in existence for 80 years) with financial resources then concentrated on Cupra.Seat currently offers a three model line-up in its domestic market - the Ibiza small hatch, Arona small crossover-style SUV and larger Leon in hatch and Sportstourer form.There’s been no response from the Volkswagen Group’s Wolfsburg HQ other than a spokesperson telling Autocar, “Internal documents are discussed and approved by the appropriate bodies and that the company wouldn't pre-empt that process.”Seat Cupra UK was more forthcoming, however, saying in a statement, “The entire industry, including the Volkswagen Group and, of course, Seat SA, is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by our commitment to electrification."The global context has changed significantly, with a strong impact on the automotive sector, particularly over the past year. “Therefore the Volkswagen Group is working on a transformation plan for the entire Group business to strengthen its competitiveness and efficiency."The goal is to make the entire Volkswagen Group and respective entities more efficient and leaner and to capture technological synergy potential consistently.“This strategy has been discussed in several supervisory board meetings."No decisions have been taken at this stage. We will inform (you) about any strategic decisions affecting Seat SA in due time," it said.The report makes the telling point that Volkswagen maintaining two Spanish brands increasingly means spending money developing, marketing and distributing cars that often compete for the same customers. So, the duplication appears ripe for rationalisation as the Volkswagen Group embarks on a massive restructuring program.At the company’s Annual General Meeting in June this year, VW Group Chairman of the Board of Management Dr. Oliver Blume told shareholders significant job cuts are coming in the face of “conflict in the Middle East, shrinking market volumes and increasingly intense competition.”Not to mention US tariffs costing the group a reported €5 billion (~A$8 billion) annually because VW Group built factories in Mexico for export to the U.S, built to take advantage of the free-trade agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada have become uneconomic.“We don’t earn enough money with our products. Developing a world car in Germany, producing it in Europe and selling it globally – our business model that was successful for decades – no longer works today.”At that stage Blume said, “For Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche and our software subsidiary CARIAD we have agreed to cut the number of jobs in Germany by some 50,000 by 2030.”And subsequently, Automotive News Europe reported Blume was expected to ask the group’s supervisory board to approve cutting 100,000 jobs (15 percent of the current workforce), in what is potentially the biggest restructuring in modern German corporate history.

Volkswagen has finally launched the new version of its Walkinshaw-tuned Amarok ute, the W600. At its media drive in Tasmania, we test the so-called ‘ultimate driver’s ute’ on the very roads it was developed on!

It was only a matter of time before Volkswagen introduced a factory camper version of its ID. Buzz pure-electric van, and now it’s arrived in the shape of the ID. California Cruise.Offered in short- and long-wheelbase form, the adventurous newcomer is equipped with a host of lifestyle-focused extras, including:2.0m x 1.2m (by 9.0cm thick) folding mattress extending out across the rear seatsLightweight folding table and chair set housed above the mattressVentilation grillesWindow black-out coversOptional panoramic sunroof with light-proof coverNo ‘pop-top’ roof or kitchen unit at this stagePower is supplied by the same rear-mounted single electric motor as the ID. Buzz Pro and Pro+ models, sending 210kW/510Nm to the rear wheels with a 79kWh lithium-ion battery in the SWB and 86kWh pack in the LWB likely to deliver similar range figures of 422km and 452km, respectively.But the electric California Cruise’s signature campsite party trick will surely be its V2L (Vehicle to Load) functionality with up to 3.6kW output to power equipment like lighting, cooking gear or a fridge/freezer box that would typically require a petrol generator.Another special feature up the new camper’s sleeve is ‘California Mode’, which keeps the air-conditioning or heating system as well as interior lighting and USB sockets up and running for 48 hours.Volkswagen has positioned the ID. California Cruise as “an important milestone towards an entirely new generation of all-electric campervans, which will be introduced step by step through to 2028.” Pricing is confirmed in the new model’s German home market at €60,761 (~A$98,300) with deliveries scheduled to start in early 2027.For reference, the current local ID. Buzz line-up starts with the SWB Pro at $75,990, before on-road costs and tops out with the LWB-only dual-motor GTX at $106,990, BOC.  CarGuide contacted Volkswagen Australia for comment on the ID. California Cruise’s potential for local sale and a spokesperson told us, "We are continually reviewing our product portfolio for the Australian market."While we recognise the interest in the Volkswagen ID. California Cruise, we are unable to confirm local availability or timing at this stage for Australia." 

Skoda has indicated two key SUV electric vehicles (EVs) slated for Australia may have their release dates pushed back.With booming demand for EVs in Europe against a backdrop of war in the Middle East and subsequent spiking oil prices, buyers in Australia may have to wait until the end of next year before they can get behind the wheel of the Epiq small SUV.Likewise, the recently announced Skoda Peaq seven-seater large SUV EV, a companion model to the popular Kodiaq and the stated flagship – or peak – of the Czechian brand’s extensive range, might still be up to two years away from a local launch.According to Skoda Australia Brand Director, Lucie Kuhn, there are a number of factors at play putting pressure on the availability of these two important electric models.“Here in Australia, we are trying to fight to get the launch of global models, the Epiq and Peaq,” she said. “We are awaiting final confirmation.”With sales of EVs expected to eclipse internal combustion engine models for Skoda in Australia, the importance of the Epiq in particular cannot be overstated.Closely related to the just-released VW ID. Polo light car supermini and ID. Cross electric crossover version that are already creating a buzz with strong pre-orders in Europe, it is a key player in the Volkswagen Group’s retaliation against the wave of cheap EVs from China.More specifically, the Epiq uses a modified version of the MEB electrical architecture known as MEB+ designed to slash engineering and production costs.Developed by Seat in Spain (where all models including a Cupra Raval version will be built), it switches from a rear-motor/rear-wheel-drive (RWD) configuration to a front-motor/front-drive layout.Along with a simpler torsion beam rear suspension set-up and the choice of two modestly sized battery packs of 39kWh (for 310km of WLTP range) and 55kWh (for about 440km WLTP) sizes, the goal here is to save money.Speaking of which, while pricing and specification details have yet to confirmed for our market, the entry-level version is expected to kick off from somewhere in the mid-$30,000 region.This would take the fight up to the BYD Atto 2, GWM Ora 5, Jaecoo J5, Leapmotor B10 and Chery E5.Crucially, at the time of publishing, neither VW has been confirmed for Australia as yet.The Peaq, meanwhile, employs a stretched version of the Enyaq’s MEB architecture, and will offer 60 RWD, 90 RWD and 90X all-wheel drive powertrains.Globally unveiled in late June, Skoda has yet to reveal many details about this model, but it is anticipated that the main target will be the successful Tesla Model Y L, which currently retails from around $75,000 and $90,000 before on-road costs in Australia.If the brand can achieve similar pricing to the latter, it would undercut a host of electric alternatives, including the Kia EV9, Volvo EX90, Hyundai Ioniq 9 and Mercedes-Benz EQS.Both models represent strong opportunities for conquest sales for the company.“We are hard at work now, working on Epiq and Peaq,” according to Skoda Australia Head of Product and Marketing, Kieran Merrigan.“The feedback is really awesome, and we can't wait to see the work on them and bring them to market – 2027 for the Epiq, and then late 2027 or 2028 for the Peaq.”