Volkswagen is expected to unveil its urban electric vehicle concept, the ID. 2 next week on March 15, according to Autocar. This concept will offer a glimpse of a future production compact model that is set to go on sale in 2025, and could adopt the Golf name, Volkswagen insiders were quoted as saying.
The future production version of the ID.2 has been tipped to start from 22,500 euros (RM107,681) when it goes on sale in around two years’ time, and this will be the first from Volkswagen to be based on its MEB-Plus architecture.
The MEB-Plus platform is an updated version of the MEB electric vehicle platform which will use new lithium iron phosphate (LFP) prismatic battery cells, and take charging at up to 200 kW, according to Autocar sources.
While there is the possibility of the new EV hatchback adopting the Golf name, there are also a number of naming combinations that could be used for the production version which have been proposed internally in recent months, including the ‘ID Golf’ moniker that Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer hinted at in a prior interview, according to Autocar.
“The Golf name has huge value. The recognition it receives at customer clinics, people absolutely understand what we are talking about. So, to change the name to something completely different doesn’t make sense,” Schäfer said. Earlier suggestions hinted that the Golf name would be applied to the ID.3 facelift, however “the true value of the Volkswagen Golf lies in a car the size of an ID.2,” the magazine’s sources said.
The production version of the ID.2 was to be previewed by ID. Life concept, however the ID.2 will be heavily revised into a more conventional hatchback shape that is being developed by a design team led by new Volkswagen design chief Andreas Mindt, reported Autocar.
This followed what was described as a “less than lukewarm reception” to the original Josef Kaban-developed concept by Schäfer and the brand’s new management team, and Kaban was asked to step aside following internal debate over the model’s original design.
Sources with knowledge of the early ID.2 proposals tell Autocar that the upcoming model is somewhere between the sizes of the existing Golf and Polo, and it will have an overall length of “around 4,250 mm,” the sources said.
With a relatively short bonnet and a flat floor, the upcoming concept is claimed to offer “the sort of interior space of models typically one segment higher,” the magazine’s source said.
Initial information states that the ID.2 will be single-motor, front-wheel-drive, though Volkswagen sources told Autocar that the MEB-Plus platform for this model will support dual-motor, all-wheel-drive configurations, therefore the driveline configuration remains a possibility.
The ID.2 will be “relatively lightweight by electric car standards, somewhere between 1,600 kg and 1,700 kg,” the magazine was told, and the GTI badge will make a return to signify a higher-performance variant for the fully electric model, thus replacing the GTX badge as introduced on the ID.4 SUV.
“The GTX [designation] is dead. A decision has already been made to replace it with the traditional GTI name and it is being considered for the ID.2,” a source told Autocar.
Further along, the MIB infotainment system will get provision for a rotary controller for a heavily revised centre console, alike the development that will appear in the third-generation Tiguan due later this year. The rotary controller will supplement the touchscreen controls as found on current Volkswagen models, which have come in for criticism in terms of lacking ease of use.
These significant changes for the development of the ID.2 are part of a “comprehensive reset” for Volkswagen and its EV strategy led by Schäfer, according to Autocar.
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The VW ID.2 is looking better than current VW Golf, bring it on.