AUTONEWS

New VW ID.2: €25,000 and a range of around 450 km

Volkswagen has long wanted to launch a more compact and affordable electric car onto the market, a sort of smaller sibling of the current ID.3. The project has faced some setbacks, with the German manufacturer looking for a partner (Renault) to share and reduce the model's costs, but now everything indicates that the decision has been made and that the vehicle will indeed start production at the end of 2025, the year in which it will hit the market for around €25,000 and a range of around 450 km.

As previously announced, the model will adopt the name ID.2, initially appearing as a utility vehicle, with the exterior dimensions of a Polo, but the interior space of a Golf, due to its shorter front end (due to the absence of the larger engines and gearboxes of the petrol versions), prioritising space for the cabin. The German brand will later complement its range of cheaper electric cars with a GTI version of this ID.2, and then with an SUV version, both slightly more expensive.

The ID.2 initially appeared as a prototype, under the name ID.2all, but has now been caught driving around the German Nürburgring circuit, which suggests a sports version is about to be launched, the ID.2 GTI. The photos were published by the British AutoExpress, with the interesting fact that the ID.2 chassis is disguised as an ID.3, which would go unnoticed if it weren't for the very small rear doors, indicating that "this ID.3" is installed on a substantially shorter platform.

The ID.2 will be based on the short version of Volkswagen's MEB platform, which is known to evolve into MEB+ at the end of 2025 or beginning of 2026, which will happen almost simultaneously with the launch of the ID.2. However, given the difficulties with the software, the VW Group hopes to solve the problem on the PPE platform with the help of Rivian, the North American startup specialized in pick-ups and SUVs, which only has one model on the market that is not yet for sale in Europe.

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