Volkswagen’s ID range has become a flagbearer of the transition to electric, particularly in Europe, although it has also managed to carve out a sizeable foothold in China. However, despite clear parallels with VW’s combustion-engine old guard in terms of styling, models emblazoned with the ID badge have traditionally shared more in common with themselves than the rest of the VW catalogue. As such, ID vehicles can be clearly identified due to their common design language. This is something that the German giants want to change.
Starting with the ID.2, VW are looking to amalgamate their ICE and electric ranges by homogenising their styling. This is evident when looking at the ID.2 concept vehicle, which is strikingly similar to the beloved Golf. According to Martin Sander, who is VW’s head of sales and marketing, this move is deliberate to bring more “clarity” to the brand’s upcoming models so that all new vehicles are unmistakably Volkswagen in their design.
As such when a new ICE model is released for instance, it will have an electric ID counterpart that will be consistent in styling, although the ID badge itself is not being renounced. This also means that the current system of naming ID vehicles by numbering them will be discarded in favour of traditional VW nameplates. Crucially, this will allow VW to capitalise on the global success of the Golf by giving it a window into the electric world.
When talking to Autocar, Sander stated that VW, by standardising their styling and uniting their combustion and electric lineups “want to build ID as the leading brand for electric vehicles”. At the Paris motor show Sander also stressed VW’s continued devotion to EVs and made sure to draw attention to the “many billions” that the German manufacturer have poured into developing their electric platforms and expanding their ID range and the ranges of their subsidiary brands.
Perhaps this was to stifle any potential backlash that would inevitably have followed VW’s announcement that they will carry on investing in ICE technology for the foreseeable future until a suitable and clear end date presents itself. Sander called on politicians to “recognise that and just clearly commit to the fact that [electric] is going to be the future and take all the doubts away from the consumers”, something that he believes can be achieved through subsidies to incentivise consumers and sweeten the financial pill.
Sanders ultimately justified VW’s decision to keep some eggs in the ICE basket with the law of supply and demand: as long as the global market demands combustion-engine vehicles, VW will continue to roll them off the production line. Most concerningly, this terminus for ICE development does not seem to be fast approaching, with the uptake of EVs continuing to falter.
Therefore, by bringing their ID range in line with their conventional selection, VW might be helping to make the change to electric more palatable thanks to the familiarity of household nameplates and an established design language. Due to its triumph in China, VW will also seek to export EREV (extended range electric vehicle) hybrid to other markets as another alternative to combustion engines.
The summit of the mountain is still a long way up, however, and to reach it, governments will need to take action and work alongside the industry to boost EV sales, which is urgent as deadlines loom.