Electric Seat on its way to New Zealand
Tuesday, 2 July 2019
A more affordable mainstream European EV is now looking increasingly likely with New Zealand's distributor for Spanish brand Seat confirming its intent to sell the El Born electric hatch here, hopefully within 18 months.
This adds strength to a Volkswagen pitch to deliver something Kiwis have yet to really see – a full-blown, new bespoke battery car for mainstream money.
As images show, the Seat is a sister in all but styling (and only just) with the five-door ID3 that will kick off Volkswagen NZ's like-timed EV push. Built on the same platform, both use an identical drivetrain and roll off the same production line.
Pricing won't be know for some time, yet the respective general managers of the two Giltrap Group divisions - Seat's James Yates and VW's Tom Ruddenklau - agree on two points.
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First, both are looking for mainstream acceptance, yet the Seat - named after a trendy Barcelona suburb - will have the usual pricing edge, so will be cheaper.
Says Yates: 'We probably wouldn't bother with that (El Born) if it was going to be exactly the same price as the Volkswagen.
'We would expect to be in a similar state (with pricing) as occurs now; for example, our Leon is on the same platform as a Golf.' But costs $6000 less. 'We would expect that will flow onto the electric product.'
Second? Even if the cars do butt heads regardless, it won't cause concern.
'The power of this group is that they are as good at brand management as they are at sharing componentry,' says Ruddenklau.
'We're all friends in the boardroom and competitors on the playing field. That's how the business works. It keeps things interesting.'
Launch timing is not yet nailed down, and might not be for some time.
Both operations are hoping for 2021 release, a year after production starts, but concede it might even be 2022. Everything hinges on what occurs in Germany, where tightening emissions regulations are dictating what EVs are built and when and what markets see them first.
VW Group finds our highly renewable electricity generation situation and interest in the electric e-Golf – whose May registrations take of 28 units was the best monthly count it has achieved – stimulating enough to make us a priority export market (much moreso than Australia) and, in the overall scheme, our take-up will be modest.
Yet even though a bespoke plant in Zwickau, Germany, will be achieving a 330,000 units per annum output by 2021, VW Group might chose to keep all its EVs on home turf initially. So anxious is it to avoid a penalty of potentially up to $NZ310 billion if it fails to meet the European Union's rules for cutting average fleet emissions for passenger cars to 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre by 2021.
The more electric and hybrid vehicles it builds, the lower that average becomes.
'The European market is a big priority,' acknowledges Ruddenklau. 'They have to create some good demand over there so we know already a lot of the production has been prioritised to that.
'We're hoping 2021, but my gut tells me it could be a wee bit later. But we're right in the thick of product planning for the ID range.'
Of the five ID editions planned, ID3, the ID Crozz crossover and the ID Buzz, a modern interpretation of the evergreen Kombi, are most likely for NZ.
'The Three and the Buzz will be the big heroes, I think.'
E-Golf's private sector buy-in being higher than anticipated and recent research in consumer patterns bodes well for the ID cars, he suggests, which won't clash for sales as the current Golf's production ends before they land and the replacement Golf 8, here late next year, won't require a wholly electric edition.
'When we undertook product planning years ago we thought e-Golf would be a fleet car. We've been surprised by how strong it has been in the private sector.
'We've also just undertaken some research that shows 29 percent of our customers said they will definitely have an EV in their consideration for their next purchase.'
Seat's role in the EV programme is particularly intriguing. It has been charged with being the leader in development of cost-advantaged entry-level product on the MEB underpinning delivering 27 Group models by 2025.
The cheapest MEB-based Seats are expected to cost less than $NZ34,000; the sort of money that presently buys a used import EV with a few years prior use.
Seat has so far confirmed just one other full-out EV coming on stream, the Minimo, a city-centric two-Seater whose styling is straight from the Renault Twizy styling guide. However, it's only for Europe.
Going EV will be a big positive, Yate says. 'We're obviously looking forward two years but I believe the market will accept the Seat brand a lot more by then and be willing to try it, just as they will be more willing to try electric vehicles.'
ID3 and El Born have both done the rounds as concepts and the mules spotted testing remain true to the show cars.
The MEB platform is said to be capable of delivering a driving range of more than 600km, though it's thought VW has opted for a maximum of 550km at least initially.
Up to four battery sizes are expected for MEB models, starting with an entry level 48kWh unit capable of 330km of driving range. Mid-range variants will reportedly get 55kWh and 62kWh batteries, with the flagship achieving the top 82kWh pack for the maximum 550km range.
The 400-volt system will be capable of being charged to 80 percent in no more than 40 minutes on a 125kW direct current fast charger.