Volkswagen is considering India to produce its future electric city car, which could bear the name ID.1. This will be located below the ID.2 in the range and should display a base price below the 20,000 euro mark. A partnership would also be considered in order to reduce production costs.
Volkswagen ID. 2all
Electric cars still cost more to buy than equivalent thermal models, but the situation is starting to balance out. Not to mention the fact that these are less expensive to use, thanks to often cheaper recharging. In addition, more and more manufacturers are working on the launch of more affordable vehicles, such as the Dacia Spring or the MG4. But not only.
A new electric city car
Volkswagen also wants to make its electric cars more affordable, as it proves with its ID.2all concept. This refigures a compact displayed under 25,000 euros and could take the name ID. Golf. But the firm does not want to stop there and plans to launch another even more accessible model in the future.
It could thus logically adopt the name of ID.1 and would therefore be located just below the recently unveiled compact. But if the latter will be manufactured in Europe, and more particularly in the Pamplona plant in Spainthis will not be the case for the affordable city car.
Indeed, and as Thomas Schaefer, the brand’s current boss, confided to journalists from the Automotive News site, assembly in India would be considered. The country would be one of the various possibilities considered by the manufacturer in order to reduce the production costs of the future ID.1. Thus, the firm could keep its promise regarding the price.
The boss claims that Volkswagen now has an obligation to produce a very affordable car, while manufacturers have been waging a veritable price war for several months. This started because of Tesla, which radically dropped its Model 3 and Model Y.
Launch in 2026
If Volkswagen does not want to lower the price of its current electric vehicles, namely the ID.4, ID.5 and ID. Buzz, these are its future models which will therefore be less expensive. To achieve this, the manufacturer also plans to forge partnerships, in order to reduce production costs. The firm is already collaborating with Ford, which is using its MEB platform for its Explorer and which will benefit from it on its future electric compact.
On the other hand, ID.1 should not use this technical basis. A new one could therefore be created with the help of a new partner, but the brand has not yet been decided. According to Christian Vollmer, head of production, the exact location of the factory is not the most important. The main thing is that assembly takes less than 15 hours per car. It is possible that a European production is therefore considered for the copies marketed here.
The key would be to increase the share of automation, in order to reduce expenditure on salaries. The boss of the brand also confirms that the city car will be equipped with LFP (lithium – iron – phosphate) batteries. This technology, also adopted by Stellantis, is indeed less expensive than NMC (nickel – manganese – cobalt), especially since the price of lithium has fallen slightly. Even if it still remains very high.
The media also announces that the Volkswgen ID.2 will use an LFP battery in its entry-level variant. This means that we would have a version with NMC battery for the autonomy of 450 km, and a version with a lower autonomy. The 25,000 euro version of the ID.2 should therefore not reach the theoretical range of 450 km on the WLTP cycle.
It will however be necessary to show a little more patience before knowing more about the Volkswagen ID.1, since its arrival on the market is not expected before 2026, or even 2027. Other electric models are also planned, including the ID.7 and the future ID. Tiguan which would be under development.
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