Volkswagen is planning the little brother for the ID.3
The ID.3 is the first all-electric car from Volkswagen. The ID.2 is to become the smaller brother as a small car, for around 20,000 euros.
(Photo: dpa)
Wolfsburg Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess is anything but undisputed within the group. But even among his opponents there is little doubt that Diess has done a lot right with his clear electrical course. With the new electrical construction kit MEB, millions of electric cars can be produced comparatively inexpensively. More than 70 different models are to be launched in the next few years.
However, there is currently a gap in the model portfolio: There is no small electric car in the size of a VW Polo. Almost exactly two years ago, the Wolfsburg-based car company announced for the first time that there would be a separate offer in the small e-car segment for around 20,000 euros for the foreseeable future.
But the planning stalled, it went back and forth internally. First a small electric car was to be built in the VW plant in Emden, then in the cheaper Volkswagen factory in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava. Now the internal plans for the small electric car are taking on more concrete forms again: It could be a Sino-Spanish project.
As can be seen from current VW plans, a small car could not come onto the market until 2023 at the earliest. Time is running out. The US competitor Tesla is also working on a small, fully electric vehicle. Tesla founder Elon Musk had announced that such a car would be produced for the first time in three years.
Volkswagen relies on its new Chinese partner JAC for its small car planning, with whose support the first vision of the new car is to be created. This is why production is initially only planned in China.
Spanish government fights for the Seat factory
The car is also to be exported to Europe. Analogous to the ID.3, VW’s first electric car in Golf format, the new small car should be given the type designation ID.2. VW did not want to comment on the name. A second variant is also to be produced in China under the Cupra brand. Cupra is the new sub-brand of the Spanish subsidiary Seat.
A little later, probably in 2025, the new small car will also be manufactured in a European plant. As it is said in corporate circles, the Seat factory in Martorell, Spain, near Barcelona is currently the favorite. The Spanish government is working hard to bring small car production to Catalonia. The reason: The government in Madrid wanted to secure the long-term existence of the Seat factory. There are talks between Volkswagen and the Spanish government, according to Wolfsburg.
In order to be able to produce the new small electric car in Spain, government financial aid is likely to be inevitable. Because Volkswagen could also produce the car in Eastern Europe, where wage costs are significantly lower. The Spanish wages had adjusted more and more to the higher German level in the past few years.
Because of the high cost of the battery, it is equally difficult for all car manufacturers to produce an electric car for around 20,000 euros. The battery accounts for around half of the procurement and production costs. Therefore, the battery is to be slimmed down in the joint VW-JAC small car project. Volkswagen wants to use iron phosphate as a raw material and not the more expensive lithium-ion variant. The range should be only about 200 kilometers. The planned small electric car is primarily intended as a city car.
More: E as in expectations – the VW ID.3 in the Handelsblatt Autotest