Volkswagen previews ID.4 electric SUV

Friday, 28 August 2020

Volkswagen’s Golf-sized ID.3 hatchback is only the beginning of its 11 billion euro electric mobility onslaught. Next up will be the ID.4, the first all-electric SUV from Volkswagen.

Compact SUVs are the largest global vehicle segment, making it the perfect target for the new ID.4.

To date Volkswagen has confirmed the ID.4 will be built and sold in Europe, China and later also in the US. The SUV model plays a key role in VW plans to produce 1.5 million EVs in 2025.

The ID.4 was revealed earlier this year but isn’t yet confirmed for our market.

Volkswagen plans are for the ID.4 to land in New Zealand in late 2022. Volkswagen New Zealand says several factors are challenging the planned rollout including very strong demand in Europe and temporary closure of VW’s European factories due to the coronavirus.

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It might not look it but the ID.4 is a slippery thing, with regard to aerodynamics.

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Could this be your next family car? With any luck it will launch here to supplement the ID.3 hatchback.

Negotiations with the factory are continuing ahead of the ID.3 hatchback being confirmed for the New Zealand market.

Initial production of the ID.4 has already started at the Zwickau plant and the world premiere is scheduled for late-September.

Design sketches of the new SUV released recently confirm Volkswagen is targeting low-drag aerodynamic efficiency to support the SUVs electric drive capabilities.

“The electric design evolution of the ID.4 also means that we have focused very strongly on the aerodynamics,’’ said Klaus Zyciora, the Head of Design for the Volkswagen Group.

“The ID.4 achieves an excellent drag coefficient of 0.28. The most important factor for this is the flowing basic shape of the vehicle body and passenger compartment, which is significantly drawn in towards the rear.

“This is complemented by many precisely executed details. For instance, the bodies of the tail light clusters together with the large roof spoiler ensure that the air flow is cleanly separated,’’ Zyciora said.

The ID.4 will be the second model based on Volkswagen’s new modular electric drive matrix (MEB) vehicle architecture which debuted for the ID.3 hatchback. This platform is designed only for the electric drive system and offers a very spacious interior thanks to the compact design of the electric drive.

Positioning the high-voltage battery sandwich-design underbody creates a low centre of gravity for better driving dynamics as well as well-balanced axle load distribution.

It is expected the ID.4 will be launched in multiple battery size/range derivatives. With its aerodynamic efficiency real-world ranges of more than 500km (according to WLTP) are possible with the ID.4.

The new SUV will initially be launched with rear-wheel drive with an electric all-wheel drive variant to follow at a later date.