Perhaps it was a coincidence, but VW couldn't have scheduled the first trips with the ID.4 electric SUV much more appropriately: They were scheduled for the time when Tesla boss Elon Musk was recently on a visit to Germany.
While the VW developers let themselves be looked over their shoulders on the large, otherwise mostly secret test site in Ehra-Lessien, the Tesla boss trudged a few hundred kilometers east through the Brandenburg Heath.
There he was shown the construction site for the factory in which the most important opponent of the ID.4 will soon roll off the assembly line - the Model Y, also a representative of the booming mid-range SUV segment.
The importance associated with both events could hardly be greater for the companies: Musk calls the Gigafactory in Grünheide, with its annual capacity of 500,000 cars, perhaps the most important car factory in the world.
The Model Y should replace the Model 3 as the best-selling car of the Californians and make Tesla a real mass manufacturer.
VW chief engineer Frank Bekemeier speaks at ID.4 (world premiere on Wednesday, September 23) about the most important model in the Group's electric offensive.
It is true that they celebrate the electric compact car ID.3 in a class below that as a lighthouse and "Gulf of the New Era".
But it is a European phenomenon and its segment is shrinking, admits Bekemeier.
The ID.4, on the other hand, is available worldwide and will soon also be built in China and at the US plant in Chattanooga.
Like Model Y, it is one of the crossover SUVs, with a high seating position, a stocky silhouette and a large trunk.
Just as the Golf has long been overtaken by the Tiguan in global sales, the ID.4 should overtake the ID.3, says Bekemeier.
He cannot imagine that one of the more than three dozen other planned e-models in the VW Group will sell better.
At prices from just under 37,000 euros in Germany (i.e. 7,000 euros above the ID.3) there is a car that cleverly translates many traditional VW values into modern times:
The design looks fresher and cheekier than the Tiguan, but it won't scare anyone off
The operating system is easy to use - although it looks more unusual with the small, free-standing display behind the steering wheel than in the new Golf
The materials look more posh than in the hard plastic-dominated ID.3, and they feel better.
There are soft foamed plastics and neat metal consoles.
Driving also looks familiar.
The ID.4 is unusually handy for its size because the front wheels can turn further without a large motor in between.
And thanks to the generous torque of the electric motor, the roughly two tons are no longer noticeable.
But Bekemeier did not want to expose those who switched from gasoline or diesel to electric car peculiarities such as one-pedal driving.
The polarity of the ID.4's electric motor, which is reversed to a generator, therefore only decelerates minimally - unlike in cars like the Nissan Leaf or the Polestar 2. When you lift the accelerator pedal, they recuperate more electricity and come to a standstill quickly even without the brake.
The driver can choose the route profile in the ID.4 with a clear conscience as with the Tiguan: through the city it is just as agile, on the freeway calmly and on the highway with commitment - thanks to progressive steering and adaptive chassis.
4 rolls undeterred over the gravel roads, forest paths and muddy deserts of Ehra-Lessien, on which VW votes its rally cars.
Customers have to get by with rear-wheel drive for the first few months.
VW added an all-wheel drive version later.
On the other hand, the feeling of space is different - from the point of view of Tiguan drivers, but also for potential Tesla switchers: at 4.58 meters in length and 2.77 meters in wheelbase, the ID.4 offers significantly more space, especially for backbenchers, than the combustion SUV from Wolfsburg and also as the competitor from Grünheide.
Both are a lot longer.
The trunk of the VW can also be seen with a capacity of almost 600 liters.
For other transport tasks, VW installs roof rails and equips the ID.4 as one of the few electric cars with a trailer coupling.
In terms of performance, the ID.4 is not looking for a duel with Tesla's Model Y - which is also around 20,000 euros more expensive.
The rear engine with its four power levels from 109 to 150 kW accelerates to 100 km / h in the best case in around eight seconds, with a maximum torque of 310 Nm.
Solid versus cool - is that enough for VW?
The ID.4 does not even begin to reach the 3.7 seconds of the Model Y or its top speed of 150 km / h.
VW puts an end to 160 things.
Only the upcoming top model, which has 150 kW in the rear and a 75 kW motor on the front axle, can achieve 180 km / h and is powered by all fours.
Volkswagen's classic, hedonistic Tesla clientele shouldn't be on its side.
The energy is supplied by a lithium-ion block in the floor of the car, which VW is initially supplying in two sizes.
The entry-level model uses a net capacity of 52 kWh, which should be sufficient for a distance of 350 kilometers.
The more expensive versions drive up to 520 kilometers with 77 kWh and thus just outperform Tesla.
The small battery is charged with a maximum of 100 kW and the large one with up to 125, so that electricity flows for over 300 kilometers at a typical fast charging station within 30 minutes.
Solid facts - but is that enough to keep regular VW customers away from Tesla and the Model Y?
Maybe the cooler car will be built in Grünheide, and like pop star Musk, the Wolfsburg developers will probably not be celebrated in the foreseeable future.
Hope could, however, make VW fans the pace at which the group is now working.
While the Teslas from Brandenburg will take to the streets next summer at the earliest, production of the ID.4 has already started in Zwickau.
The first customers should be behind the wheel before Christmas.
Icon: The mirror
