It has become a tradition for Volkswagen and Cupra to make their displays available to journalists at the electric car exhibition in Prague’s Letňany a few hours earlier than other car manufacturers. Wednesday evening was marked by several premieres and one price surprise.
The biggest show of electric cars in the Czech Republic is back after a year, and with it the traditional peek under the hood of the e-salon before its doors officially open. The exhibition in Letňany has been held for the fifth time this year since 2018, having missed it only in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. And it enjoys decent attendance, despite the fact that Czechs do not spend much on new electric cars.
“In terms of the share of battery cars in total registrations, we are the third worst in Europe this year with only 2.1 percent,” says Jan Hurt, CEO of Porsche Czech Republic, and a list of thirty countries appears on the large screen behind him.
According to him, electric cars sell by far the best in Norway, where their market share is over 80 percent. On the contrary, only Croats and Slovaks are worse off than Czechs, but their distance is only calculated in tenths of a percent.
Probably the biggest visitor magnet of this year’s e-salon at the VW stand is the Volkswagen ID.2all prototype in the GTI version. Although last year’s world premiere of the upcoming small model for 25,000 euros was not without criticism for its “too ordinary design”, the 2all looks great in the sports version. The only flaw is that it will not go into production until 2027. It would be much more interesting if it were sold now.
The sprawling gray liftback ID.7 looks rather conservative compared to the colored GTI, but its premiere at the e-salon coincides with the start of sales. The ID.7, which is also popularly called the “electric Passat”, will basically cost one and a half million crowns, and its biggest advantage is its range – it can travel 700 kilometers on a single charge.
Exactly one year after the national premiere, the exhibition of retro buses is also returning to the fairgrounds. This time with advertising stickers of world-famous brands and a surprising price. As part of the e-salon, it is possible to purchase the ID.Buzz in the commercial version for 990 thousand without VAT, in the passenger transport version the car is available for a promotional price of 1,349 thousand crowns including tax. In both cases, this is a discount of a quarter of a million, which is rarely seen in electric cars.
The e-salon opens for the public on Friday at 10 a.m. and lasts until Sunday at 4 p.m. The basic entrance fee is 240 crowns, children under 140 centimeters are admitted for free.
2023-11-09 05:03:31
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