Volkswagen seeks to increase its range of electric models. This decision has led those responsible for the brand to give the green light to expand the family of vehicles that were already planned under the ID nomenclature. As confirmed by the CEO himself, Thomas Schäfer, to the Autocar medium, this will be done by creating body variants of the already known models, starting with the Volkswagen ID.3.
It was a matter of time before Volkswagen wanted to increase its offer of electric SUV -type models beyond the ID.4, ID.5, already known, or the ID.6, which will arrive soon. These models attack a specific niche, since they are, in some cases, notably larger than the ID.3 despite sharing the same platform, leaving behind a generous gap in the market, a space that they have decided must be covered.
The first to divide its current range will be the Volkswagen ID.3 since the CEO himself has confirmed this. Its SUV variant, which could be called the Volkswagen ID.3 X, will be “dramatically different from the aesthetics of the current model.” Its arrival on the market is scheduled for the year 2026.
This will be presented as the electric SUV for access to the most “sustainable” range of Volkswagen, but that will not be all. The year 2026 appears quite interesting for the German company since it will mean the update of the Volkswagen ID.3 and the launch of two alternatives derived from the compact; namely, the aforementioned electric SUV and a sports variant of it. These will enter the market in much the same way as the Volkswagen Polo and Volkswagen T-Cross currently do, for example.
For that year, Volkswagen expects to launch a total of 10 new electric cars, thus completing one of the most versatile electric ranges on the market. “From the most basic electric car, with a target price of fewer than 25,000 euros, to the Volkswagen ID.Buzz and the new Volkswagen ID Aero, we will have the right offer for each segment ”, stated the CEO in his intervention.
This generous family of electric models will continue to be based on the well-known MEB platform, which is not scheduled to be retired until the end of this decade in favor of the new SSP architecture. In any case, the CEO has confirmed that the platform in current use continues to achieve “significant advances in terms of autonomy, performance, and useful features.”
Currently, the German company is in an intense process of evolution, in which its goal is to “shed old habits” in terms of production, focus on basic models of the future, and “significantly simplify our range of models and packages for the next ten years”, affirmed the maximum response. This will mean the elimination of some of its current combustion models, to reduce its product portfolio, but also its options. “We want to live up to our volume motto: do less, but do it well.
