Video: VW ID.4 revealed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgqgywj-kf0

Volkswagen has globally launched its all-electric SUV the ID.4.

It will be produced at five factories on three continents, targeting mainstream buyers, starting at US$39,995 when it arrives there early next year.

In fact, production started prior to the premiere, the ID.4 expected to be available in Australia and New Zealand, the latter also likely to get the ID.3.

“This is truly a breath-taking global car,” Volkswagen Group of America chief executive Scott Keogh says.

The ID.4 will be imported to the US from Germany until production begins at a VW plant in Tennessee in 2022, with the price then expected to drop to about US$35,000.

VW revealed the new ID.4 on September 23, and it is the brand’s first long-range EV to be sold in the US, opening online reservations for it, also offering three years’ free charging in the US through Electrify America with fast charging at up to 125W – 30 minutes of charging providing about 320km.

“Our real goal is to drive adoption and get ICE drivers onto electrification,” Keogh says, adding that’s linked to price.

The ID.4 is claimed to have 520km range (WLTP cycle) with the 77kWh battery pack which is among several battery options (including 82kWh in the US).

It will initially be available in rear-wheel drive with an all-wheel drive expected in late 2021, and will be built at Zwickau and Saxony in Germany, Anting and Foshan in China, and Chattanooga in the US.

Reported to be spacious, the ID.4 includes 543 litres of cargo space behind the rear seats.

Matrix LED headlights and “3D” taillights feature.

While VW pushed back the launch of the ID.3 until earlier this month due to a software glitch, the company promises a trouble-free rollout of the ID.4 starting with late 2020.