Every year since 2014, students from the Skoda Vocational School have been designing their own concept cars, resulting in fun creations like pickup-SUVs and open-doored electric beach buggies. This year's crew has endeavored to turn the all-electric Skoda Enyaq iV into a multifunctional micro-camper and mobile office – not an easy ask from a compact crossover. The team is working around the small packaging by massaging in a camper extension atop the hatchback, opening up space for a bed and functional mobile work space. In so doing, they explore an intriguing alternative for digital nomads.
Skoda seems quite convinced that its Enyaq iV is a proper camper base vehicle. The last time we checked in with the Czech badge, its UK HQ was showing an Enyaq iV micro-camper that used a slim Nest Egoeboard camper-in-a-box and a rooftop tent. That modular camping concept was designed for summer festival-hopping, and now Skoda focuses in on a more work-oriented breed of vehicular touring.
The student concept car project will serve as a natural extension of Skoda's "Explore More" tagline and is being developed with the idea of empowering digital nomads to travel wherever and whenever they want while remaining just as productive as they'd be racking up OT in a cubicle. The project car will have thoughtful features for both overnight camping and working on the go.
The first sketch of the exterior shows an automotive appendage that reminds us of a curled up scorpion tail. It also reminds us of past car-camper amalgamations like the Prius Relax Cabin camper and Saab Toppola. It looks like it will serve to both open up more headroom at the rear of the Enyaq, which will be particularly useful when sitting up and typing away on a laptop or enjoying a meal, and house overhead storage that's easily accessible from below.
The interior sketch previews a tailgate camper box-style interior that supports a bed atop a hatch-accessed set of drawers. With one drawer still closed away out of view, the design so far shows no sign of the slide-out kitchen equipment usually built into such camper kits. Instead, it has an empty drawer on one side and a flip-up worktop on the other. We'll wait to see if the center compartment includes any kind of cooking or food prep equipment, but if not, the worktop could be used as a small dining table or outdoor desk.
The bed stretches out over the the second row, but it's not clear if the seats have been removed or if the mattress sits on top of the folded rear seat. The sketch shows only a single sleeping berth, but it seems like the setup could easily adapt to include a second. The back of the driver's seat appears to hold a sizable digital display, which could be the centerpiece of a mobile workstation.
While this type of student project could easily end at the sketch or rendering stage, Skoda's annual program tasks the students with seeing it through to an actual vehicle build. This year, 29 student apprentices will complete the job. We've looked at many Skoda student builds in the past and are particularly excited to see this one take shape at a time when remote work and digital nomadism remain hot topics.
Source: Skoda