Thanks to the abundant subsidies, a VW e-Up hardly costs more than a comparable combustion engine when you buy it, and it looks much better for the electric car when it comes to maintenance. But Volkswagen is in a dilemma: After years of doldrums, customers are asking for the e-version of the VW Up (test) so intensely that the car can no longer be ordered. The same applies to the derivatives from Seat and Skoda. Since they all have a different body than the models with combustion engines and the battery cells cannot be ordered in any desired size, it is currently questionable whether the order acceptance for these cars will even be opened again. Because at least one successor has long been in the works.

Volkswagen will also include one in its new range of battery-electric electric cars pick up cheap small cars. The vehicle is intended for the next major expansion stage from the year 2023, should be located below the recently launched ID.3 and in the Basic version estimated about 20. 000 cost euros. A separate project team is working on the battery-electric model, which should be about the size of a VW Polo, according to the Group’s plans. Details are not yet known.

ID.1 and ID.2 A further splitting of the small car offer would also be conceivable ID.1 and ID.2. The smaller of the two would then be about the same size as the VW e-Up and, as the base model, would be more or less significantly below 20. Euro. The current success of the small car speaks for this. Which also speaks for it: Between an ID.1 and the ID.3 there would be space for a small electric car in the four-meter class. There Volkswagen is facing a growing supply of electrified competitors. For example, PSA, Renault, Honda and Toyota are already on the market with corresponding small cars, Volkswagen currently has nothing to show for in this segment.

The only alternative to gasoline and diesel is currently the natural gas drive in the VW Polo. But hardly anyone buys the Polo TGI (test).

(Image: Florian Pillau)

Larger models will follow A possible ID.2 would also be the step expected by industry observers by Volkswagen to expand the e-offer downwards. The ID.3 sold since September 2020 is to be followed by ID.4 around the turn of the year. Then the ID.5 – a mixture of SUV and sedan with a range of up to 470 kilometers – and the larger one ID.6 the series continues. The electrical bus ID.Buzz starts 2022. In the following year, the Aero B is to be added, which should already travel up to 700 kilometers when fully charged.

Hardly anyone without electricity During the period 2023 to 2026, the core brand of the Volkswagen Group also wants the Supplement classic combustion engines with additional plug-in hybrids, which have an electric range of up to 100 km should offer. As with the competition, single combustion engines are likely to be the exception in the future. Almost every conventional gasoline or diesel will get at least a mild hybridization as support. This makes it easier to meet specifications for fleet consumption.

A new Passat is also planned, but only as a station wagon in Europe. The Touran and Sharan will be phased out in the medium term, and neither will likely have a successor. In addition to all Golf variants and the next Tiguan, a large SUV will be produced at the main plant in Wolfsburg, which is similar to the Tayron previously manufactured in China.

Large e-SUV from Hanover In its investment plan, which was updated in mid-November, the group had total expenditure for the next five years of around 150 Billion euros announced, almost half of it for the future topics of e-mobility and digital. At the headquarters of light commercial vehicles in Hanover, an expensive e-SUV for other brands is also to be built, which could come onto the market under the Audi, Porsche and Bentley label.

(mfz)