Volkswagen has been dangling its €20,000 electric car out there for more than four years so you'd be forgiven if you've already dismissed it as vaporware. Originally slated to launch in 2025, the bargain-basement EV is running a little late, but it's still in the plans. In fact, VW detailed on Wednesday that it will be rounding out its EV lineup with a family of small cars that price lower than anything it offers right now. Along with an updated roadmap, it gave employees their first look at the €20K entry-level EV in preparation of a broader debut next month.
Yep, that teaser photo above is the first look at the revised €20K (approx. US$20.8K) car Volkswagen has been talking up for years, initially previewed by the 2021 ID. Life concept. The production car will serve as the base model of Volkswagen's EV lineup, and while VW hasn't given it a proper name just yet, the designation "ID.1" fits like a glove – we'll be using it until we hear differently.
Based on the shadowy front view in the teaser pic, the ID.1 concept car should be a handsome little ride, far removed from the embarrassing econoboxes of old. The perky little four-wheeler greets the world with a wry smile and heavily digitized face defined by squinting semi-circle LED lamps. It's hard to say much else, but the dimensions strike us as more "hatchback" than "sedan," but that might be based more on history and expectations than tireless visual analysis.
Also, this was the teaser Volkswagen included with a 2024 update on the €20,000 EV project:
On Wednesday, VW brass gave employees the first look at the forthcoming ID.1 concept car at a company meeting in Wolfsburg, where passenger car CEO Thomas Schäfer laid out the groundwork for a multi-year strategic plan that includes affordable entry-level mobility as a cornerstone. VW will reveal the ID.1 show car to the public in March, well ahead of the planned 2027 production launch.
“An affordable, high-quality, and profitable electric Volkswagen from Europe for Europe – that's the Champions League of automotive engineering!" declared Schäfer, referencing the prestigious European football competition.
Volkswagen sees affordable electric vehicles as a critical part of its future strategy. According to its numbers, of the 1.35 million ID. EVs it has sold since launching the family in 2019, the entry-level ID.3, which currently starts at €33,330 in Germany, accounts for roughly 500,000 units, or 37% of total sales.
The next step in the ID game plan will be expanding the lineup downward with a new electric small car family built atop an evolution of Volkswagen's modular electric drive (MEB) platform. First Volkswagen will drop the entry point of ID ownership down to around €25,000 with the ID.2, the production version of the ID.2all concept hatchback it showed in 2023. It plans to get that model out to dealerships in 2026, it said on Wednesday, reiterating the targeted base price of "less than €25,000."
The €20,000 ID.1 will follow in 2027, assuming Volkswagen sticks to the timeline it detailed this week. We expect more light to be shone on the ID.1's targeted specs at the concept's world premiere next month, but looking back at the 2021 ID. Life that served as VW's original preview of a planned €20,000 car, we see a 161-in (409-cm) hatchback with a 231-hp front-wheel drive and an estimated 249-mile (400-km) range. If it keeps the new concept's numbers around that same ballpark, it'll have a compelling little electric for €20K.
The ID.1 and ID.2 will be among nine new models Volkswagen plans to launch between now and 2027 as it works to take a technological leadership role among global volume auto manufacturers.
Source: Volkswagen
