Quote Originally Posted by mknight View Post
I agree the real reason why they are not joining is political. Just like VW exit was.
For Skoda it's about 60% the money related to coming investments (and the PR/shareholders effect if they use large sums on WRC at same time). The rest is related to the current rules cycle coming to an end in 2-3? years. The new rules definitely need to include some hybridization else WRC ends like WRX did.
The WRX is failing after the sudden annoucement of a switch to EV’s, just like Le Mans main category has turned into a joke (3 of 4 manus have pull out) due to the extreme costs of higth tec hybrid systems.

We’re still in WRC new rules first cycle (2017-19) and even if some insist the second cycle should be shortened (taking one year from the planned 2020-22), there’s no need to rush into EV’s or hybrids; what mostly mater is to avoid a disruption in the series that could make fans, manus and teams running off.

Btw, let’s not take the eco-political correctness too seriously; Nascar is probably one of the most pollutant motorsport series in the world, yet it’s by far the most popular one and an amazing sponsor’s magnet.