Volkswagen has officially confirmed plans to launch an entry-level electric city car with a price of €20,000 (around £17,000) and a launch date target of 2027.
As reported previously by Autocar, the model – known as the ID 1 – will channel the spirit of the now-axed Volkswagen Up and could even take its name when it arrives, rivalling the new Citroën e-C3.
The EV will be one of four affordable electric cars built in Spain by the Volkswagen Group, alongside the Skoda Epiq compact SUV and two additional, €25,000 small electric cars – one from the Volkswagen brand and the other from Cupra.
Any affordable VW EV would likely spawn a Seat sibling. This follows confirmation by brand boss Wayne Griffiths to Autocar last month that Seat will launch a €20,000 electric car, but he said such a car is not an immediate priority as it would not be profitable today.
With the entry-level VW EV targeting a launch date of 2027, it can be expected that Seat's equivalent model will follow in quick succession; likely by 2028.
Thomas Schäfer, Volkswagen brand CEO, said: “The future is electric. In order for electromobility to become widespread, attractive vehicles are needed, especially in the entry-level segment.
“Our brand promise is electromobility for all. Despite the attractive price, our vehicles will set standards in the entry-level segment in terms of technology, design, quality and customer experience.”
Schäfer added that the move to build smaller electric cars is increasingly difficult, due to rising costs and a lack of physical resources. This echoes comments made earlier this year by Toyota, which said the chances of an electric Aygo supermini were slim due to the cost of batteries.
The VW brand boss also called for more support from governments. “This task has become more demanding due to rising energy, material and raw material costs,” Schäfer said. “One thing is clear: electromobility from Europe for Europe can only succeed with political support and competitive framework conditions.”
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You just think about things differently with an EV.
Isnt it interesting how some manufacturers are now becoming interested in this "afffordable" end of the market now, it is perhaps because they're struggling to sell all their premium, expensive electric models?
Mr Grunitz talks about loss leaders, and small profits for entry models subsidised by the higher margins on models further up the range as if its some new idea. Its what manufacturers used to do years ago, to attract new and younger drivers to the brand. Its called long term thinking, something that went out of the window when they started getting greedy.
I'm really not interested in when "the wraps will come off", its when people can actually buy the thing and at what price that is important. The VW group seem to be particularly bad at this, we had that article yesterday where someone had said they were delaying the ID2all til 2026 rather than 2025, but VW strongly deny this. When you read it though, its only being "unveiled" in 2025, so it is 2026 after all. Talk about smoke and mirrors.