Latest news with #IDEvery1
Top Gear
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Can this small, cheap electric car save Volkswagen?
Big Reads In its recent history, VW has struggled with some existential questions. Have lessons been learned with the concept? Skip 1 photos in the image carousel and continue reading This little car has a big, big task. From 2027 the production version should reinvent Volkswagen, literally from the bottom up. To you and me it's just a car – a smart one and, at £18,000, a cheap one. To Volkswagen it's much more: redemption. VW's electric story so far has very much had its ups and downs, and the downs have been painful and self-inflicted. The story arc begins when Dieselgate broke, back in 2015. VW was already planning bespoke electric cars, even if we saw no evidence until the ID concept in autumn 2016. Since the first Golf, VW – despite dark beginnings under the Nazis – always thought of itself as a force for good, a big employer making sound people's cars, boosting the economy. The diesel scandal showed a malevolent side, and it wanted to regain the high ground. The ID cars were to be the route, and they were fast tracked. Advertisement - Page continues below Too fast. Software woes meant they launched late and unfinished. Germany's biggest corporations do autos, finance, utilities. The country has produced no great software or data company. I suspect that's because of a second ugly period in the country's history. After the postwar split, the communist party's all pervasive internal intelligence network, the Stasi, relied on hundreds of thousands of civilian informants. Neighbour spied on neighbour. Photography: Wilson Hennessy You might like Since reunification, a deep cultural attachment to privacy still remains. Start any German car and the screen won't come on until you've prodded a data sharing agreement button. And so, in 2015 when VW wanted to design a range of connected EVs, it couldn't find the software talent. Besides, those ID cars were developed in the industry standard way, just as a Golf is. VW sets the basic design requirements, and then 'tier 1' suppliers take responsibility for separate systems. Bosch the engine management, Continental the braking, ZF the chassis, Magna this, Valeo that. The actual car manufacturer is in many ways an integrator and assembler. Advertisement - Page continues below But a connected EV is defined by its software, and all systems have to run one common OS designed by one set of engineers: battery management, motor control, power and regeneration, as well as embedded connected navigation for charge planning. The early ID cars were a patchwork, not a weave. And the patches came unpicked. The early ID cars were a patchwork, not a weave. And the patches came unpicked The VW Group has since set up successive new software organisations and divisions, and kept dismantling or 'reorienting' them. Now it has a partnership with XPeng to develop software for its cars sold in China, and recently a multibillion investment in Rivian that will provide software for VWs in the rest of the world in future. Meanwhile, to be fair, the in-house system is getting better and more reliable. The screen freezes Top Gear suffered in pretty well every VW Group car – EV or ICE – from about 2020–2023 have now largely stopped, and ID cars on the road have been updated. Indeed, Silke Bagschik, chief of the ID line, told me that after the update rollout, they thought their customer fault reporting system had gone down. Because no faults were reported. Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox. There's more though. The VW brand itself is a huge business that makes barely any money – two per cent margin – and has peered over a precipice of mounting future costs and brutal Chinese competition. Painful negotiations with the unions have now got agreements to shut production lines and two small factories in Germany, cut the German workforce by 35,000 by 2030, do without wage increases for five years, and in the process aim to save £3.4 billion a year midterm. Some of these problems were down to VW's failure to be lightfooted enough, others affected the whole industry. Even so Bagschik admits VW in Europe isn't yet able to cost match the Chinese. 'We need lower prices on energy and raw materials,' and she talks of a level playing field – likely code for tariffs. So if people are going to buy VWs against all that backdrop, they'd better be attractive. Was the ID.3? A facelift has improved it, but its launch design was a space age pod for virtue signalling early EV adopters, and its interior an unpadded cell with flaky infotainment. So, redemption, then... for Dieselgate, for bad software, for a high cost base that brings high prices, and for design that sadly lacks the reassuring solid friendliness a Volkswagen should have. The ID.1 bears a lot of weight, or weights, on its shoulders. Skip 4 photos in the image carousel and continue reading Well, I call it the ID.1. Volkswagen calls this concept the and by production time it might be called because the Up is the car whose role and spirit it inherits. Equally, what's now the ID.2all concept may well be called when it hits showrooms next year. If the name changes, its shape won't. The shape and proportions and purity – well, once you've added windscreen wipers and normal doorhandles – will stay. VW design boss Andy Mindt is adamant. 'Everything we show now is the exterior.' It shares with the Up that clever quality of looking like a real VW, but simpler and more cheerful than the bigger ones. This little golden block is, says Mindt, 'a completely friendly car. The face is really human with human eyes". He points out how the eyes, the headlamps, have deep lit borders so the bulb always looks like it's in the centre of the lamp as you walk around the car. 'Like the Mona Lisa, it's always watching you. It's a bit spooky.' Between the lamps is a black panel. Mindt didn't want an expressionless body colour strip. 'This is friendly, not super cool, not about killing zombies.' But black plastic is otherwise banished. 'There's no decoration on it, no additional parts. No light bar. No cladding on the doors or sills, no matte black. And this saves money, which we put it into other things like bigger wheels. It's a self confident car, so you never feel underdressed.' The body has a terrific stance, approachable yet monolithic. The wheelarches are immaculately surfaced, and Mindt points out they're deep above the wheels – visually pulling the wheels out of the body – yet lower down the doors are less waisted because that helps cut drag. Because it's a four seater, the roof has a central channel, which also reduces drag, plus it stiffens the panel so there's no need for supporting structure. Cheaper, lighter, better. The single tailgate panel is simplified, avoiding covers for the opening button or numberplate light, as they're tucked under the bottom edge. It's a self confident car, so you never feel underdressed It's a simple two-box outline, with a surprisingly long flat bonnet. Mindt says this makes the car look chunky and safe, reassuring for parents who buy baby cars for their neophyte driver kids. Black-painting the A-posts does the job of visually lengthening the cabin and emphasising forward motion. The upright screen avoids having a big glassy oven in front of the car too, he points out, with the air of a man who was somewhere else – anywhere else – when the shovel nose ID.3 was designed. But then, the first ID cars were shaped to announce their new age drive. The new ID cars, Mindt's ones, are shaped to announce that they're VWs. Inside, it's simple too. But in their cabins more than their exteriors, production cars tend to migrate away from their concepts. So let's not assume WYSIWYG. But we learn from Mindt that the plan is for an undressed cabin in the base versions becoming more lavish in higher trims or with mountable accessories. Below the central screen are a physical volume knob and temperature buttons. Yup, VW is rowing back on its widely lambasted all-screen interface. 'Let's say our usability concept so far was heavily criticised by customers.' The screen will have some permanent icons and a flat menu structure. Besides, cars this size are used as pool and hire cars, with unfamiliar drivers. No one wants to land on holiday and spend two hours jabbing at a screen before they manage to leave the airport car park. Different cabin layouts suit the three main users – the young on their first car, the old on their last, and shared users like healthcare workers or delivery drivers. It's patronising to assume baby cars are just city cars or second cars. Hence the target of 155+ miles of range, and quick charging too. Skip 4 photos in the image carousel and continue reading The and a crossover too, plus a Cupra and Skodas, will use a new FWD platform. That frees up space in the back for a deep boot and a lockable bay under the back seat cushion for charge cables and, say, a laptop. More importantly, FWD saves cost, bundling all the electronics and high voltage wiring at one end. These cars share some mechanical and electrical parts with the bigger rear motor VW EVs, but the ID.1's 95bhp motor is new. So is the 38kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, a cost saving but robust chemistry in a compact lightweight cell to pack construction. This will be the first car to use that Rivian-VW software. The rear suspension is a torsion beam, not the more expensive multi-link of the bigger cars. Yes, low manufacturing costs really matter here. VW wanted to do a baby EV but didn't know if there was profit in it. So 600 of its engineers went into a room to scratch their heads for cost savings, and VW only gave this car the go-ahead when it'd found enough. Bagschik says for a buyer, the monthly cost, with lease payments and fuel, of the littlest ID will match a petrol baby car. She's not a fan, by the way, of an ICE ban. 'There's no need. People get hooked on EVs once they try them. No one wants to take anything if it's mandatory.' We'd be Up for this one.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
VW, with Rivian help, brings forward launch of first software-defined vehicle
Volkswagen Group has shortened by a year its timeline for offering its first software-defined vehicle. The biggest reason for that is the automaker's partnership with U.S. electric vehicle maker Rivian. The production version of VW's ID Every1 electric minicar will launch in 2027 as the group's first software-defined vehicle, VW brand CFO David Powels said on the brand's 2024 earnings call on March 13. VW Group CEO Oliver Blume said last March that the automaker's first software-defined vehicle would not arrive until 2028. At that pace, it would be two years behind Renault Group, which has said its software-defined vehicle would be ready by 2026. Volvo says its EX90 and ES90 already qualify to be called software-defined vehicles. Powels said VW Group's partnership with Rivian has helped the company bring forward the launch of advanced software functions, starting with the ID1. Last year, VW Group invested $1.3 billion into Rivian for intellectual property licenses, which included a contribution from VW brand, Powels said without providing more detail. It was part of a deal valued at nearly $6 billion. The characteristics that qualify the ID1 to be called a software-defined vehicle include 'updatable and very performant electric/electronic software architecture, [which] is something we are doing in our joint venture with Rivian,' VW brand CEO Thomas Schäfer said in response to a question from Automotive News Europe on the earnings call. The production ID1, which is expected to start at €20,000, will be the first VW Group car to get the new electronic architecture, he said. Schäfer also shared the target groups for the full-electric minicar, which include first-time car buyers, older customers and businesses such as food delivery and healthcare service providers. Sign up for the Automotive News Europe Focus on Technology weekly newsletter, looking at advancements in all aspects of the vehicle including performance, autonomous driving, batteries and more. VW will build the ID1 in Setubal, Portugal, at its Autoeuropa plant, which is one of the company's most cost-efficient factories because of the country's low labor and energy costs. Blume said the plant, which is 50 kilometers southeast of Lisbon and currently builds the VW T-Roc crossover, was also picked because of the good supplier infrastructure in Spain and Portugal, including VW's battery plant in Valencia, and its Pamplona factory that will build the ID2 full-electric small car. VW Group CFO Arno Antlitz said March 11 that achieving positive margins on the ID1 'will be difficult.' Making profitability even more challenging is that there will be no derivatives of the affordable EV to offer to VW siblings. 'We will not do a rebadge for Seat, Cupra or Skoda,' Schäfer said. 'We are differentiating now pretty clearly what model gets done by which brand so that we are not overlapping. I think by doing this we can develop more power within the individual brands.' Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Volkswagen ID Every1 previews £17k city car for 2027
ID Every1 uses new 94bhp motor, giving a claimed top speed of 81mph Volkswagen has vowed to realise its long-held goal of an 'affordable' £17,000 electric car in 2027 with the arrival of the production version of the new ID Every1 concept car. Described by Volkswagen as a model 'from Europe for Europe', the new car will serve as the spiritual successor to the Up as an A-segment city car and become the entry point to the German firm's range of bespoke electric ID models. Volkswagen boss Thomas Schäfer has described the model, which will be part of the firm's new Electric Urban Car Family, as 'the last piece of the puzzle' in its mass market line-up, adding: "this is the car the world has been waiting for." The production version of the ID Every1 will sit on a modified version of the new front-wheel-drive MEB Entry platform, which has been developed for the forthcoming ID 2, ID 2X, Cupra Raval and Skoda Epiq. Those models will all be built at the Seat factory in Martorell, Spain, with prices for the ID 2 starting from around £21,000 (€25,000). Volkswagen development chief Kai Grünitz said that the front end of the new machine from the font wheel to the A-pillar is largely the sam as the ID 2all concept, but it then uses a different, smaller battery and has a shorter wheelbase. It also features a new rear axle, which is based on that used in the current Polo. The ID Every1 features what is described as a newly developed electric motor that produces 94bhp and gives the car a claimed top speed of 81mph. Volkswagen has provided no details of the battery capacity or what chemistry it will use but claims the model will offer a range of 'at least' 155 miles. It will also be the first Volkswagen Group model to benefit from a new software architecture that has been developed through a new joint venture with American EV start-up Rivian. For comparison with the cheapest EVs currently on sale in the UK, the Dacia Spring is priced from £14,995 and offers 44bhp and a range of 140 miles, while the £15,940 Leapmotor T03 produces 94bhp and offers 165 miles. Meanwhile, Volkswagen has previously said the ID 2 will offer 223bhp and around 280 miles. The ID Every1 concept is likely to serve as a close preview of how the production car will look. It has chunky, upright proportions that evoke the Up. Volkswagen design chief Andreas Mindt said the goal was to create a car that offered 'character and an identity that people can relate to'. There are large LED headlights and a rounded front end that, Mindt said, is intended to make the car friendly and likeable through 'a slightly cheeky smile'. The front and rear badges are illuminated. The concept features sculpted wheel arches and 19in wheels while, as is typical for an EV, the axles have been pushed to the vehicle's extremities to maximise interior space. The relatively simple silhouette and side bodywork is intended to give the car a 'timeless' and 'classless' design, according to Mindt. As with the ID 2all, the ID Every1's design features a number of nods to VW's heritage. In particular, the rear C-pillar has been designed to evoke that of the first-generation Golf. Mindt has spoken of wanting every Volkswagen model he designs to offer a 'secret sauce' that helps imbue the vehicle with character. In the case of the ID Every1, Mindt cites the lowered middle section of the roof, a design concept he claimed is borrowed from sports cars. Other 'secret sauce' elements include the integrated third brake light in the roof recess and the new designs for the 19in alloy wheels. The ID Every1 is 3880mm long, which places it between the Up (3600mm) and Polo (4074mm). The ID2all concept that will sit above it in VW's future electric line-up measures 4050mm. Volkswagen describes the ID Every1 as a four-seater and says it also offers a 305-litre boot – a substantial increase on the 251 litres offered by the Up. The interior of the ID Every1 features a simple design with a prominent-looking dashboard. While the dash is dominated by a centrally mounted touchscreen, it is notable that there are physical buttons for the temperature, heating and volume controls below it. The steering wheel is a squared-off two-spoke affair. Meanwhile, the front passenger has access to a variable multi-purpose panel to which different items, such as a tablet or shelf, can be attached. A removable Bluetooth speaker is located between the driver and passenger. The centre console is similar to that offered in the ID Buzz and is mounted on a rail so that it can be slid from the front to the rear compartment. It also features pull-out shelving. Volkswagen development chief Grünitz said the production version of the ID Every1 will be a 'customer-defined vehicle' – a phrase evoking the 'software-defined vehicle' term that reflects the car industry's increasing push towards vehicles designed around their computing architecture. The ID 1 will be the first model in the Volkswagen Group to use a 'fundamentally new' zonal software architecture from the firm's new joint venture with American EV start-up Rivian. That new system is based on the existing software used in the Rivian R1T pick-up and R1S SUV, and is intended to be highly flexible, so it can be stripped back for the ID 1 with extra zones added for more premium models to make the software run faster and add extra features. "The main benefit is that it's highly flexible and updatable," said Grünitz. "We see that with Rivian models on the road today, which can be updated with new functions for customers on a regular basis without the need to touch them. It's really the next step." Grünitz did not rule out offering functions as paid-for extras that can be downloaded using software, but said that "we don't need that" to hit the ID 1's planned £17,000 target price, adding: "we are not shooting in that direction today." While it is unusual to debut an advanced new software architecture on an entry level vehicle, VW said that showcased how important the entry level ID 1 market was to the firm. It also allows VW to learn about the software platform before it is used on the next-generation ID Golf due in the coming years. Volkswagen has said that the production version of the ID Every1 will be built in Europe, but has yet to commit to a specific plant. The model could initially be produced alongside the ID 2 and its siblings in Spain, although given the group has already committed to producing four models from that location, it is most likely to be built elsewhere. The ID Every1 is the first concept to be launched since the firm agreed a new 'Future Volkswagen' plan with unions at the end of last year. That strategy includes binding targets for future projects, including a commitment to strengthening its competitiveness by expanding its existing model range, and becoming the 'technologically leading high-volume manufacturer'. Volkswagen will launch nine new models by 2027, including the production versions of both the ID 2all and ID Every1. The firm will reveal the next member of its Electric Urban Car Family, the ID 2 X crossover, in autumn this year, most likely at the Munich motor show. ]]>
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
VW's €20,000 mini-EV highlights push to cover every volume segment
Volkswagen brand unveiled its vision of a low-cost electric minicar as part of its intention to offer the widest electric and combustion-engine range of any volume automaker in Europe, The production version of the ID Every1 will start at about €20,000 ($21,000) when it arrives in 2027. It will compete against new, affordable EVs from Chinese brands such as Leapmotor and BYD and traditional rivals including Renault. The production ID Every1, which is expected to be called the ID1, will be the entry-level model in VW brand's ID-badged range of battery-electric cars. 'The ID Every 1 represents the last piece of the puzzle on our way to the widest model selection in the volume segment,' VW brand boss Thomas Schaefer said during the concept's unveiling March 5. The production car will use the same front-drive MEB platform as the larger ID2 EV, which arrives first in 2026 and will start at about €25,000. VW has said it would launch nine new models by 2027, four of which will be part of the so-called Electric Urban Car Family that will include the ID1, ID2 and small crossover previewed by the 2023 ID2ALL concept. Sign up for the Automotive News Europe Segment Analysis newsletter, a monthly in-depth look at a segment of the car market, including sales and market share data VW didn't give an indication of where the ID1 will be built, or any technical details including targets for electric range. The ID1 concept features large wheels, chunky wheel arches and a 'floating' roof to give the car a look that's 'self-assured but likeable,' said VW brand's design boss Andreas Mindt. The production model will give VW a crucial competitor in the low-cost EV segment to help it fight the threat from the Chinese and faster moving traditional rivals such as Stellantis, Hyundai and Renault. Among its competitors will be the Dacia Spring, Leapmotor T03, Hyundai Inster and BYD Seagull. Other upcoming electric minicars include the new Renault Twingo and an expected electric replacement for Fiat Panda. The ID1 will return VW to the minicar segment five years after vacating when the brand stopped production of the Up minicar's combustion engine and full-electric versions. The ID Every1 concept is 3880-mm longer, slightly longer than the 3600-mm Up, slotting it below the ID. 2All, which is 4050 mm long. VW says the ID1 will comfortably seat four people with space for luggage in the 305-liter trunk. The car will have what VW calls a 'fundamentally new' powerful software architecture that will allow the company to update it with new functions throughout its life cycle. VW didn't give more detail, but current VWs use the MIB4 (modular infotainment matrix 4th generation) digital architecture for new models like the Golf and Tiguan including ChatGPT-enhanced voice control. The ID Every1 concept's interior has a large central digital touchscreen with a much smaller information display in front of the driver. The design includes a row of physical controls under the screen for the temperature control, seat heating and sound volume in a shift away from its previous focus on screen control. There are more buttons on the square-shaped steering wheel. Innovative features in the cabin include a central console that slides on a rail VW described as a 'multifunctional tool,' borrowing an idea from the much larger ID Buzz electric minivan. The ID Every1 concept's exterior borrows elements from classic VWs, including the a dead straight bottom window line and darkened grille bar between the front headlights, both of which featured on the first-generation Golf. 'The lack of trend-based effects means the ID Every1 will remain modern for many years and thus timeless,' VW said in a statement. Mindt said the designers wanted to give the car a 'stable' planted stance with the use of wide wheel arches and the resulting squeeze in the middle of the body. The 'likeable' element comes partly from the 'pupil' effect of the front headlights, he said. The ID1 was developed by Volkswagen Group's 'Core Brand Group' that includes Skoda, Seat and Cupra. Versions of the ID1 are expected to be rolled out by the other group volume brands. The ID2 hatchback and SUV are being developed alongside a model each for Skoda and Cupra.
