Another city car bites the dust: Skoda discontinues the Citigo

City cars are in decline. This is a segment that enjoyed some success a few years ago, since it offered a small, easy-to-handle car for getting around town. They consume little and their emissions are fairly low. Even so, we must bear in mind that with the new emission regulations, the engines they usually carry do not meet the maximum emissions permitted by the European Union.

For that reason, city cars tend to have trouble moving freely in cities. So several manufacturers have decided to stop producing and selling this type of vehicle. Skoda is following this trend and has decided to stop selling the Citigo, the brand’s offering in this segment.

The end of a model

With the discontinuation of this model, not only do the combustion-engine variants disappear, but the Citigoe iV, the electric model, will also disappear. This variant was the last to arrive and, although it has already disappeared from several markets such as Germany, France and Italy, it is still on sale in Spain for the time being.

The Citigoe iV features an electric motor delivering 61 kW, equivalent to 82 CV, and a maximum torque of 212 Nm, powered by a 36.8 kWh battery. It has a range of about 250 kilometres and, although it produces no emissions, it will also leave the market along with the rest of the versions.

The Skoda Citigo was conceived as a version of the Volkswagen Up! and the SEAT Mii, which for now remain in production. However, Skoda is going to leave this segment behind and could only return if the Group Volkswagen develops a smaller-sized MEB platform to cut costs and improve the performance and emissions of this model.

With the withdrawal of the first electric car produced by Skoda, only one fully electric car remains in the Skoda range, the newly announced Skoda Enyaq iV, so there is still a real commitment to this drivetrain. But when it comes to city cars, we are left without one of those built in Europe, and this puts the production of other models from different brands, both within the group and outside it, at risk. Is this the end of small city cars, at least in their combustion-engine versions?