fraternal triplets
The new electric cars are sprouting like mushrooms, but affordable compact models are still lacking. The Volkswagen Group wants to respond to that gap in the market with Volkswagen, Skoda and Cupra. In 2025 we will be introduced to electric triplets on the same MEB basis, but each with its own approach.
There is no shortage of electrically powered SUVs, luxury sedans and hypercars, but what is there for the smaller purse? Here in Europe, the Dacia Spring still has the monopoly on affordable compact electric cars, or you have to settle for the 45 km/h limited, more microcar-like Opel Rocks-e.
You can go one step higher and go for a Peugeot e-208 or Opel Corsa-e, for example, but then you will soon have an investment of €30,000. The Volkswagen Group may come up with the answer. The group is working on three electric cars that should be reasonably comparable in size to the aforementioned e-208 and Corsa-e, but probably a bit cheaper.
Volkswagen ID2 (Illustration: Andrei Avarvarii)
Own interpretation
The electric trio will appear in 2025 on a shortened version of the well-known MEB platform, divided over the Volkswagen, Skoda and Cupra brands. They are therefore on the same basis and all three are also built in Spain, but the Volkswagen Group also gives the brands the freedom to choose their own approach for the design. This fits in with the new policy of the group, in which the brands are aligned even more on a technical level, but the difference between them should be more in the external decoration.
As can be seen from these illustrations, things are probably fine in that regard. Certainly the Cupra looks different; We already got a harbinger of this in the form of the Urban Rebel Concept. According to a first design sketch, the Volkswagen, which will logically be called ID2, takes over the necessary external characteristics of the ID3, albeit with somewhat more rounded shapes. Skoda goes for a much more angular design. Especially the special front stands out. This is strongly inspired by the Vision 7S Concept, unveiled earlier this month, on which Skoda introduced a separate design direction for electric cars. The still nameless compact electric Skoda is therefore not, to put it bluntly, a shrunken Enyaq.
Skoda’s compact EV (Illustration: Andrei Avarvarii)
Under €25,000?
It is still somewhat conjecture about specifications so far in advance, although the Volkswagen ID Life Concept presented last year may offer a nice indication. That compact EV was equipped with a 57 kWh battery pack, good for a driving range of roughly 400 kilometers. It probably starts in terms of powertrains, just like with the bigger brothers, with a rear-wheel drive version with almost 150 hp of power. The more sporty-oriented Cupra may skip the entry-level and will undoubtedly also give its most compact electric car a four-wheel drive sporty top version.
If you care more about affordability than performance, then you should probably go to the Skoda and then the Volkswagen. Volkswagen indicated last year that it would bet on a base price of between €20,000 and €25,000 for its smallest EV. That’s promising. Skoda may, in accordance with tradition, be even more keen on this.
Cupra Urban Rebel (Illustration: Andrei Avarvarii)
The big absentee in all this is of course Seat, which will remain on the sidelines for the time being in the electric future plans of the Volkswagen Group. The production of the electric trio will take place in the Seat factory in Martorell and perhaps that means that Seat production will be scaled down. Will Seat soon be the child of the bill? Who knows. In any case, there is plenty to look forward to for Volkswagen, Skoda and Cupra, as this trio could boost sales significantly.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl