Volkswagen shows off ID. Aero concept

Tuesday, 28 June 2022

The ID. Aero will launch in full in 2023 as an electric fastback.

Volkswagen has revealed the ID. Aero concept, the precursor to the production ID. 6 sedan, expected to launch next year.

The concept looks pretty close to finished, with the distinctive ID face featuring a honeycomb grille and matrix LED lights, regular-ish-sized wheels and actual wing mirrors instead of cameras. Around the back is a full-width LED strip with a smattering of diamonds on each end to create the brake lights.

You might notice there aren’t any door handles, which is probably the only real concepty bit on the car. Instead of regular handles, you open the door by touching a panel on the exterior. Which will never go wrong in the rain…

It’s larger than a Passat sedan as well, by about 200mm, and rides on the MEB electric platform. Volkswagen has given it a 77kWh battery pack for around 620km of range, helped by a slippery exterior with a drag coefficient of 0.23.

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A wagon variant will follow the fastback in the second half of 2023.

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Volkswagen has previously talked up as much as 700km of range from a larger battery pack, but those details will have to wait until the full launch.

We do know that it will get a GTX version though, with two motors, all-wheel drive and at least 220kW of power. There’s a good chance it’ll get more grunt too, considering the ID. 6 will be Volkswagen’s electric flagship.

“With the ID. Aero show car, we are revealing a preview of the next member of the ID. family,” said VW’s CEO of passenger cars Ralf Brandstatter. “A car with an emotional and at the same time extremely aerodynamic design, a range of over 600 kilometres, an extraordinary amount of space and a premium interior.”

The full car will be revealed in 2023, with sales starting in China later that year. It’ll first launch as the fastback you see here, with a ‘Tourer’ wagon variant coming later. It remains to be seen what New Zealand will get, but an electric performance wagon would be very cool… We can only hope.