Folk ID
The Germans want to prove in 2025 that an electric Volkswagen does not have to cost €30,000 or more. Then Volkswagen will come up with a less expensive EV under the ID3. That will not be a crossover, but an electric Polo alternative with a strikingly conventional design.
Highlights
- Electric Polo alternative with new design
- On sale in 2025 from less than €25,000
- Range up to 450 km
Volkswagen is rapidly adding models to its fully electric ID family. In Europe, it already consists of the ID3, ID4, ID5 and ID Buzz, and the Passat equivalent ID7 was recently added. Volkswagen now offers a fully electric model in many segments, but the brand does not belong in the more compact category, which is extremely important in Europe. But in 2025, Volkswagen will release the production version of the ID.2.all Concept shown this year. AutoWeek already looks ahead to this electric alternative to the Polo, for which Volkswagen states an international starting price of less than €25,000.
Whether the Volkswagen ID2 in the Netherlands will also be placed in the order books for less than 25 grand? That remains to be seen, but even with a slightly higher starting price, the ID2 seems to be a very important model for the brand. Not in the first place because it will soon be the first electric Volkswagen to be drawn according to a completely new design language. It will soon be over and done with the relatively round and playful design that characterizes the current ID models. According to Volkswagen, the new design language is based on the pillars of ‘stability, sympathy and tension’. Marketing wise that sounds nice, but it means that the ID2 bears remarkably little resemblance to its ID relatives. It gets simple and clean lines and remains remarkably free of visual frills. This will soon give the ID2 a down-to-earth and mature appearance, especially for the segment in which it operates. Andreas Mindt is responsible for this new design direction. Mindt comes from Bentley and therefore knows very well how to draw a strong design. The outward modesty of the ID2. is refreshing in today’s car landscape drenched in busy folds, wild lines and garish lighting. The ID2 gets a fairly traditional VW face, a straight shoulder line and a C-pillar that are copied from the Golf. The rear lights – Mindt also seems to be unable to escape them – are visually connected, just like the viewers at the front.
Volkswagen ID2 (Illustration Larson).
Polo alternative
The Volkswagen ID2 is expected to measure about 4.05 meters, which makes it more than 20 centimeters shorter than big brother ID3 and almost as large as the Polo. However, the ID2 will soon win in both height and width from that stable pillar within the Volkswagen empire. Although the ID2 will be comparable in size to the Polo, it offers considerably more interior space. This is partly due to the potential success number of its considerable wheelbase of about 2.6 meters. That is only 3.5 centimeters less than that of the current Golf. Count on a hatchback that just swallows about 440 liters of luggage, considerably more than the Golf, which gets stuck at 381 liters. Golf space in a Polo-sized EV.
MEB entry
The ID2 owes its large interior space mainly to its technical composition. Unlike Volkswagen’s existing EVs on the MEB platform, the ID2 does not have an electric motor in the rear. It is therefore not rear-wheel drive. It will be placed on the MEB Entry platform, a new platform that will house numerous new compact EVs from the Volkswagen Group. The manufacturer presented the ID.2.all Concept with a 226 hp electric motor, although we expect such power from a sporty GTX variant that will be released later. After all, the Polo GTI kicks it up to a comparable 207 hp. Count on variants with a range of 450 kilometers, although it is quite conceivable that the electric lung capacity of cheaper versions go hand in hand with a smaller range. Good news for those who get discouraged by the touch-sensitive buttons and sliders in, for example, the ID3: in the ID2, Volkswagen seems to be returning to the use of physical rocker and push buttons for things like climate control. Even for the operation of the infotainment system, it seems to add a physical control device. While BMW is increasingly fanatically moving away from its iDrive button, VW seems to want to add such a round rotary and push button to the center tunnel of the ID2.
Volkswagen ID.2.all Concept.
R5 bullying
With the ID2, Volkswagen is aiming its sights at the highly successful Peugeot e-208 and Opel Corsa Electric, but also at the yet to be released new Renault 5. The fact that Volkswagen is accelerating in the compact segment is not only evident from the arrival of the ID2, which will 2025 will run off the line in Seat’s factory in Martorell. After the ID2, a crossover brother will appear in Pamplona, also Spanish, which will be called ID.2X. An electric alternative to the T-Cross. But there’s more. Before 2027, Volkswagen will market a compact EV that will even be one size smaller than the ID2. It may be called ID1 and must have a basic starting price of less than €20,000. Dacia Spring: watch out!
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl