German car giant Volkswagen will soon reveal what will become its most affordable electric vehicle (EV) in European showrooms.
In a single image, Volkswagen teased the design of what’s expected to be called the ID.1 – a spiritual successor to the Up city car which went out of production in 2023.
Set to be produced from 2027, Volkswagen is targeting a starting price of €20,000 ($33,160) for the new EV, intended to undercut or go up against cheap rivals from China as well as the new Citroen e-C3.
It’s previously teased the vehicle’s silhouette, showing a hatchback body with a stubby bonnet and a fairly upright roofline.
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Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer said the upcoming EV will be “an affordable, high-quality, profitable electric Volkswagen from Europe for Europe”.
“This is the Champions League of automobile manufacturing,” he added.
While Volkswagen has already offered an electric city car with the e-Up – also rebadged as the Seat Mii Electric and Skoda Citigo-e iV – its now-defunct model started from €29,995 ($49,735) when it was axed in 2023.
By comparison, the larger but internal combustion engine-powered Polo hatchback was priced from €21,590 ($35,800) in Germany.
While the Volkswagen Group is producing many of its new, more affordable EVs in Spain, the ID.1 – or whatever it’ll be called – was shown off at its main Wolfsburg plant to certain employees this week.
“The new all-electric entry-level model will be a Volkswagen in the genuine sense of the term,” Volkswagen chairperson of the General and Group Works Council, Daniela Cavallo, said in a media statement.
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Volkswagen e-Up
“It is therefore appropriate that our employees at the Wolfsburg plant will be the first to have a preview of the design – before the general public.”
It’ll slot below the production version of the ID.2all, a sub-Golf-sized electric hatchback which is due to launch in Europe next year with a higher targeted base price of €25,000 ($41,450).
The two more affordable EVs will launch at a crucial time for Volkswagen, as the European market has become more competitive in part due to an influx of affordable Chinese EVs from brands like BYD, GWM and MG.
Volkswagen is also busy cutting costs in Europe. It faced strikes from its German workforce last year, but subsequently reached an agreement with its works council to protect its German workforce in the immediate future.
As a part of the agreement, Volkswagen says it’ll undertake a “socially responsible reduction in the workforce” which will lead to more than 35,000 job cuts by 2030. Each year, it predicts it’ll save €1.5 billion (A$2.5 billion) in labour costs alone each year.
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ID.2all concept
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