Volkswagen ID.3 open for pre-booking in Europe – electric hatch with up to 550 km range, from RM139k

Well, it’s official – Volkswagen’s first fully-electric vehicle will be called the ID.3, and Europeans can now pre-book their cars starting today. The production version of the 2016 ID. concept will be revealed in full at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, but ahead of that Wolfsburg is showing the hatch in a swirly, retina-searing red-and-blue camouflage pattern.

As we saw in an accidental leak earlier this week, the styling is clear to see even behind the disguise. The ID.3 features the same basic silhouette as the show car, along with the glasshouse shape and some of the detailing, but a number of fanciful elements have been swapped out for more production-ready items.

For instance, the headlights ditch their flat pixelated look for more conventional projectors, and they are joined together by a light strip that runs across the VW badge. The slimline air intake of the concept has also been made larger, although the hexagonal imprint above it remains. Moving further back, wing mirrors take the place of cameras and the doors now open the normal (instead of suicide) way, using normal handles.

At the rear, the slim tail light strips are gone, replaced by larger L-shaped items; one can also spot the large number plate recess in the bumper that sits above the diffuser. The wheels also differ from the concept’s flat-faced rollers – their two-tone design appears to be inspired by the one on the ID. R race car.

Built on the Modular Electric Drive Kit (MEB) architecture, the ID.3 will initially be offered with an ID.3 1st launch edition, fitted with the mid-range 58 kWh battery and a range of 420 km on the WLTP cycle. In total, there will be three battery options providing a quoted range of between 300 and 550 km.

The ID.3 1st will be available in three further variants. The standard version gets large alloy wheels, voice control and navigation, while the ID.3 1st Plus adds a two-tone exterior and interior and what Volkswagen calls IQ. Light headlamps. The range-topping ID.3 1st Max throws in a large panoramic glass roof and technologies like an augmented reality head-up display.

Volkswagen is also providing ID.3 1st buyers with one year of free electricity up to a maximum of 2,000 kWh, available at public charging stations linked to its We Charge app as well as the pan-European IONITY rapid charging network. The company also claims that the ID.3 is carbon neutral, thanks to the use of renewable energy in its production and the offsetting of “unavoidable emissions” through certified climate projects.

Production is slated to commence at the end of the year, with deliveries kicking off mid-2020. Pricing for the ID.3 1st will start at under €40,000 (RM185,800), and Volkswagen is also promising that the cheapest ID.3 model will be priced under €30,000 (RM139,300) – and that’s before local subsidies.

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