SHANGHAI MOTOR SHOW: Skoda shows off Vision E's interior

Skoda has released yet more design sketches to preview its first ever pure-electric SUV, ahead of its official unveil at the Shanghai motor show on April 19.

This time the Czech car-maker has chosen to reveal the futuristic interior the Vision E concept will debut.

Set to form the basis for a production vehicle due in 2020, which is rumoured to be called the Aratan, the two new images are tipped to signpost not only the zero-emission Tesla Model X-rival's cabin, but the future of Skoda interiors.

If so, the Czech car-maker's cabins of the future will be light, spacious, minimalistic and dominated by tablet-style screens mounted on the dash and embedded into the back of the driver and passenger's seats.

In total, the Vision E comes with five infotainment screens -- one for each passenger, plus two for the driver.

All appear to be horizontally-mounted and touch-screen because there appears to be a complete absence of buttons, switchgear and even a gear selector in the Skoda interior.

Biggest of the bunch is the large 12-inch centrally-mounted screen that is expected to control the car's major functions.

To help improve its ease-of-use, the designers have incorporated a ledge to rest your wrist while operating the system.

With a lack of transmission tunnel and flat floors, Skoda has created a cabin reminiscent of a people mover.

Featuring just four seats, the Czech car-maker says each seat can rotate automatically up to 20 degrees to help climbing in and out of the Vision E.

Those front seats can also recline and the steering wheel raised to maximise space or provide sleeping facilities, if needed.

From an earlier tease we already know the Vision E measures in at 4645mm long, 1917mm wide and 1550mm tall, making the pure-electric SUV shorter (-52mm) and lower (-105mm) than the recently introduced Kodiaq but 35mm wider, reflecting its sportier nature compared to the seven-seat family holdall.

Despite looking reminiscent of the Kodiaq, beneath its skin the production version of the Vision E will have nothing in common with the seven-seat SUV.

That's because it will sit on the Volkswagen Group's new MEB platform that will go on to underpin the Volkswagen I.D., among others.

Skoda has yet to reveal full technical details for the Vision E, but says two electric motors will drive both the front and rear axle.

Combined, they produce 225kW — which should be enough for a 0-100km/h sprint of less than seven seconds.

The Czech car-maker says that thanks to its powerful lithium-ion battery pack, the Vision E will cover up to 500km between recharges.

As well as the all-new pure-electric powertrain, the Skoda will also introduce autonomous driving tech that’s coming soon to the car-maker’s line-up.

Skoda says the new driverless tech allows ‘level 3 autonomous driving’ that sees the Vision E self-drive in traffic jams and on the highway where it can overtake without any input from the driver.

In town, the same system will search for free parking spaces independently. Like Tesla, Skoda says owners will be able to summon their car from car parks.

The Vision E is not the only pure-electric vehicle being developed by the Czech car-maker. Skoda has declared that by 2025 it will have brought five pure-electric vehicles to market.