Last week, a pseudo teaser vaguely hinted at the imminent reveal of a new Volkswagen concept. We now get to find out that the showcar will not only preview a production EV but also a fresh design language Wolfsburg. Scheduled for Wednesday, March 15, the event will be hosted by CEO Thomas Schäfer, joined by Andreas Mindt, Head of Design. During the presentation, we’ll get to learn about “how we’ll be positioning Volkswagen for the years ahead.”
As to what we’re going to see, our money is on an entry-level electric car that will be positioned below the recently facelifted ID.3. It could go by the name of ID.2 or even ID. Golf if recent reports are to be believed. Either way, it’s unlikely to have anything in common with the ID. Life concept (pictured at the bottom) from September 2021 as VW literally went back to the drawing board to develop something different.
Attached above are spy shots of a cutesy ID.3 test vehicle that was spotted recently with a shortened body. It was likely an early mule of the cheapest electric vehicle VW is planning to replace the surprisingly successful e-up! The new zero-emission model is likely to be the first model from the German automotive conglomerate to utilize the MEB+ platform.
Unlike the ID.3 through ID.7 models and the ID. Buzz that all use a rear-wheel-drive-based dedicated electric car platform, the ID.2 will adopt a front-wheel-drive setup. However, dual-motor configurations providing AWD are believed to be in the works already, with one application supposedly being for an all-electric Golf R hot hatch replacement.
Models riding on the MEB+ platform have been officially confirmed to receive lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries to provide a maximum range of 435 miles (700 kilometers). In addition, VW has said owners will be able to juice up their EVs at 200 kW. The ID.2 is expected to cost from €25,000, thus making it a lot cheaper than an ID.3 priced in Germany from nearly €44,000.
