Something seven seatery this way comes – look, it’s only the new Skoda Peaq. Except it’s still in disguise, so it can’t be time to buy the new electric SUV just yet. 

Before Skoda does take the wraps off its new family seven seater it’s probably a good time to take stock and see what we know about the latest exciting launch from Mladá Boleslav (that’s where Skoda’s head office is). 

What even is the Skoda Peaq?

The Peaq is the electric Skoda that’s finally going to break the carmaker’s electric naming strategy of starting with an E and ending with a Q. But only just. Has Skoda run out of ideas? At any rate, this new direction opens up a whole world of patronymiqs.

Is the Skoda Peaq based on a concept car?

Yes – the Skoda Vision 7S concept car was revealed back in 2022 and gave us not merely a glimpse at a future electric seven seater (for which we’ve had to wait four long years to arrive) but also a tantalising look at the future styling direction of Skoda’s electric efforts. It’s almost too much excitement to bear, isn’t it.

What will the Skoda Peaq’s range be?

Skoda says that the Peaq’s range will be "more than" 370 miles, but let’s assume that will be in the expensive model with a giant battery and a tailwind. Our Skoda correspondent Nicola (see below) says that ‘more than’ actually means 373 miles. 

There will be three powertrain options (60, 90 and 90x) offering between 204hp and 299hp. We also know that the two battery sizes will be 63kWh and 91kWh. Skoda says that 10% to 80% fast charging will take around 28 minutes for both, which is exciting. 

The 90 and 90x will be the rangiest, offering that big figure, and the x stands for all-wheel drive, and we reckon the 60 will be good for around a hundred miles less than the big car, so about 270 miles. 

How will it drive?

We sent our intrepid correspondent Nicola Hume to see the new Skoda Peaq and she drove a camouflaged version of the car (wasn’t that well camouflaged, she found it quite easily). 

We asked her this question, to which she answered: “Hard to tell you, we drove it at 50kph for 20 minutes on slightly bendy roads. It should be fine – there was a bit of road noise from the wheels, and it doesn’t feel as big as you’d think.” A definitive first insight from the front lines. Check out her video at the bottom of the page. 

What do we know about its specs?

We’ve had information about the car in dribs and drabs so far – it’s a confirmed seven seater, and Skoda says that the Peaq will have 299 litres of space in the boot with all the seats up, which expands to 890 litres with the back two seats folded down. Sounds good. 

There’s also a modest 37-litre frunk under the bonnet for odds and ends like your charging cables and maybe your hamster if it needs to go to the vet. 

We also know that inside there’s going to be a 13.6in portrait oriented touchscreen with dreaded haptic controls (“my kingdom for a button”, as Hamlet famously didn’t say). It’ll have Skoda’s new app store, so you can download Spotify and Google Maps plus watch YouTube videos while you’re charging. Fun times. 

It’s also going to be Simply Clever, as Skoda’s motto has it – that means wireless phone charging up front, a little screen cleaner for the infotainment, lots of USB plugs and a QR code in the boot that will direct you to a video that shows you where all the little cubbies are and how to fold the seats, because the manual will be almost four metres away up the front. 

How will it compare with rivals? 

There are literally big shoes to fill when it comes to competing at this end of the electric market – if you’re interested in seeing every electric seven seater on sale then you can check out our comprehensive list, or perhaps you’d just like to know what we think the best ones are. 

The combustion engined Skoda Kodiaq has long been the default recommendation for people on the search for family seven-seaters, and the Czech carmaker will obviously be hoping that this car will do the same at the electric end of the swimming pool. 

At just over 4.9 metres the new Peaq is going to be shorter than the Kia EV9 and Hyundai Ioniq 9 models, but longer than the new electric Mercedes GLB and just a smidge lengthier than the Peugeot e-5008 that’s probably its most obvious rival.

How much will it cost? 

The combustion Kodiaq starts around £40k for seven seats, and the five-seat Enyaq is Skoda’s current biggest EV, running from £39k to £52k. We reckon that puts the Peaq in the high 40s, early 50s territory, so expect it to cost around £50k. 

That would put it bang on with the Peugeot e-5008, but much cheaper than the Kia EV9/Hyundai Ioniq 9 models that clearly have ideas above their station. 

What’s the expected release date?

We’re expecting to see the final production version of the new Peaq (no more sneak Peaqs… can’t believe we got almost to the end before using that one) over the summer, with the car going on sale before the end of the year. That probably means first deliveries won’t be until the start of 2027.