The all-new Volkswagen ID 7 will make its UK debut in Birmingham today before being officially launched at tomorrow’s Shanghai Auto Show.
The ID 7, which had previously been known as Aero B as a concept car and in development, was closely previewed as a camouflagued prototype (pictured) at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It will be offered first as this five-door liftback, and in time as an estate, too.
It is the sixth model to be launched in the ID range and will initially sit alongside the Volkswagen Arteon and Volkswagen Passat, the latter of which will only be offered as an estate in its next generation. In time it will become VW’s only offering in Europe’s shrinking D-segment as no further versions of the Arteon and Passat are due once the switch to EVs is made.
This is the new Volkswagen ID 7, an all-electric saloon with a range of 435 miles set to be launched in the second quarter of 2023Here, @mtisshaw explains all you need to know pic.twitter.com/0L5LxpFZkI
— Autocar (@autocar) January 4, 2023
“Globally, the saloon segment is disappearing, even in China,” VW boss Thomas Schäfer told Autocar. “In China, it’s already happening in the low-price saloons. It is going down in Europe; it’s never been huge, except for a handful of markets, maybe Turkey, but we will definitely not bring a lot of saloons. This is it [ID 7] and we converge onto that when we let go of the combustion engine.”
The MEB-based ID 7 is 4940mm long, 1859mm wide and 1529mm high, with a wheelbase of 2969mm shared with the Volkswagen ID Buzz. This makes the ID 7 longer than both the Passat and the Arteon.
The CES show car wears the ID 7’s production bodywork but it is wrapped in a special QR code-inspired camouflage to hide its final styling. A full reveal will happen today before the ID 7 goes on sale later in the year.