Thursday 29th September 2016

Volkswagen I.D. - Paris 2016

Like a Golf but not quite a Golf, the I.D. is the first step in VW's plan to sell 1m EVs a year by 2025

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It's typical of Volkswagen to exhibit its motor show wares the evening before the expo opens, and Paris 2016 is no different. It also goes to show how the motoring landscape is changing that the big draw is a fully electric C-segment car that will eventually be autonomous. The future is coming...

Oh yes, definitely some Golf here

The I.D. is the first car to be built on Volkswagen's 'MEB' architecture, a 'toolkit' platform much like the MQB that underpins so many cars but for electric models. 'Modular' is the key in that acronym (it essentially translates as 'Modular Electric Drive Kit') as it makes the architecture scalable, much in the same way that MQB can form the basis of both Audi Q2 and Skoda Superb. The I.D. is just the start!

VW in fact states that this car is the first in a "completely new fleet of highly innovative electric vehicles"; from the off the I.D. comes with a 125kW (167hp) electric motor and a projected range of between 248 and 372 miles (400-600km) on a single charge.

Though it can't be seen yet, Volkswagen says the interior of the I.D. offers an "entirely new spatial experience". It's built in anticipation of an autonomous mode also (due in 2025), with a steering wheel that retracts in fully automated mode.

That's still a little way off though. What isn't, however, is the arrival of the I.D. VW says it will be launched in 2020, running in parallel with the Golf range. What to make of VW's electric future? Over to you, and expect many more details from the Paris show floor soon!

[ZesPak]

Probably will have an ic engine hidden in the spare wheel compartiment

[ZesPak]

muckyman said:

I wonder if anyone will actually achieve the upper end of the range - or is that just under certain simulated test conditions where a computer has been plugged in and calced it. Or maybe it was on a very long downhill section of hyper smooth tarmac with no traffic and a strong tail wind

It has a small IC engine in the spare wheel compartiment. It turns itself on during test conditions, don't worry, it only uses about 6l of heating oil every 100 miles.

[ZesPak]

Is their any distribution on how that gasoline is used? Is it 90% cars? No idea.

If it is, the Model 3 could actually be a shift there.

[ZesPak]

oilspill said:

Or

VW Management " The BMW i3 is the 3rd best selling Ev of all time, won 2 world car awards, 2 Uk car awards, an IF product design award, it was one of the closest cars to its original concept, shall we have a slice of that cake? "

VW head of design " " [TBA it's still only a concept]

1) Is it? Most are sold with a range extender. So not really full electric
2) Awards.. that's nice. My website thought of 70 awards last year and the i3 won none of them.
3) Many cars look like their concept... a lot of them had a very good looking concept.