Saar: Slated to enter production in late 2019, the I.D. will become Volkswagen’s first EV that is designed from the ground-up to be one.
The Volkswagen I.D. was shown as a concept back in 2016 at the Paris Motor Show. The carmaker confirmed that the production version of the Volkswagen I.D. will surface in the year 2020 and that it will be built on the MEB architecture. The same platform will underpin several future EVs from the company and its subsidiaries as well.
Earlier this year, more details about the Volkswagen I.D.’s production plans emerged. It is touted to enter production in November 2019 and will be built at Volkswagen’s Zwickau plant in Saxony, Germany. Moreover, Volkswagen said that starting 2020, it plans to produce 1 lakh units of the Volkswagen I.D. per annum.
Now though, Klaus Bischoff, who is the design head at Volkswagen, has told Autocar UK that the production-spec Volkswagen I.D. has been signed off and it will stay true to the concept seen in 2016. In his own words:
“The proportions, the design cues and the wheel size are the same as the concept. It looks like the show car. We couldn’t do the camera-system rear-view mirrors for legal reasons, nor the electric door handles due to cost. But other than that, it’s pretty much the same.”
He further elaborated on the design process of the Volkswagen I.D.:
We had the unique chance to lead Volkswagen into a new age. Electric drive provides greater freedom for designers. We minimise the cooling holes; the axes move further apart and generate stunning proportions. Before we took a pen in the hand for the ID project, we intensively discussed the importance of future mobility. One thing is certain: the car for the day after tomorrow will be a place of mobile communication. The open space offered by the ID is such a place.”
On-road testing of the Volkswagen I.D. has already commenced as the pre-production models were manufactured last month. That means the eggheads at Volkswagen have less than a year and a half to fine-tune the recipe of the I.D. just right. Herbert Diess, chairman of the board of management of Volkswagen AG, reportedly mentioned that test mules will be used in an “intensive start-up phase”, which will begin in September 2018. The finished product, Diess said, would have a price “comparable to a diesel model.”
No confirmed details about the powertrain have surfaced. The I.D. concept housed a 170PS electric motor and depending on the battery pack, would deliver a range between 400-600km on a single charge. There are reports that Volkswagen might offer a dual-motor setup for the I.D. as well. Needless to say, that will have more power on tap. Fitted with fast charging, Volkswagen confirmed that the I.D.’s battery pack will be able to gain 80 per cent of its juices in just 15 minutes.
In terms of dimensions, the concept stood at 4,100mm in length, 1,800mm in width and 1,530mm in height. Compared to the closest, similarly sized hatchback Golf, the Volkswagen I.D. is 155mm longer, 9mm wider and 7mm higher. Even its wheelbase is 130mm more than the Volkswagen Golf.
Thanks to the new MEB platform, the Volkswagen I.D. hatchback will become the company’s first EV that is designed from the ground-up to be one. Post the Volkswagen I.D., four more pure EVs will expand the company’s portfolio – an MPV called Budd-e, I.D. Cross SUV, I.D. Buzz Microbus and the company’s future EV flagship, the I.D. Vizzion sedan.
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