Automaker VW is expanding its electric range with a new sedan that follows in the footsteps of the Passat model series.
The ID.7 should be particularly successful in China.
Berlin/Munich – Volkswagen's core brand is expanding its electric range upwards and has presented the production version of the ID.7 sedan.
The almost five meter long VW novelty should achieve ranges of up to 700 kilometers in the higher performance level, but this is not yet a WLTP measurement.
According to the business-oriented clientele, the VW ID.7 is offered with modern networking and display technology.
The new addition, which will be available from autumn 2023, expands the electric model range to the (upper) middle class, after the group has so far only offered electric vehicles such as the compact class ID.3 and the SUV brothers ID.4 and ID.5 (coupé).
VW ID.7 heralds a tight schedule: ten new electric models by 2026
The VW ID.7 was shown in Berlin and other cities, but according to reports it will also be on display at the important auto show in Shanghai.
The target group for the VW electric car are, on the one hand, buyers in Europe and America.
However, VW is hoping above all for the most important market, China, which is the only place where Europe's largest car company is already offering the large ID.6 SUV for sale.
The follow-up model ID.7 should be available in the People's Republic and in European countries this year, and the market launch in North America is scheduled for 2024.
One of the most important model launches for Volkswagen in 2022 was the VW ID.Buzz electric bus.
The production version of the ID.2 small car should also be ready by 2026 at the latest - possibly earlier - and a mini model for less than 20,000 euros is still possible as an electric successor to the VW Up model series.
Like the premium car manufacturers BMW and Mercedes, VW is also being criticized for relying on increasingly expensive e-cars.
Climate protectors have long been demanding that not only larger vehicles be equipped with alternative drives, but also affordable smaller ones.
The new ID.7 will not really meet this requirement: the price for the electrified mid-range should be just under 60,000 euros.
Volkswagen: New ID.7 sedan to “electrify long-distance journeys”
The proportion of fully electric models (BEV) in Volkswagen passenger cars is expected to reach at least 80 percent in Europe by the end of the decade, and ten new electric car models are said to be planned by 2026.
According to the company, the ID.7 should, among other things, play the role of "electrifying long-distance routes".
Of all previous e-cars in the main division, the VW ID.7 has the largest battery to date: In the larger ID.7 Pro S variant, the usable capacity of the battery is said to be 86 kilowatt hours (kWh).
+
With the new ID.7, VW offers an electric middle class.
The market launch is scheduled for autumn 2023.
©Volkswagen AG
Volkswagen will build the versions for Europe and North America from the second half of the year at the VW plant in Emden.
The version for the Chinese market, on the other hand, is produced in the People's Republic itself, as part of the FAW-VW joint venture in Guangdong Province.
Electric cars have drastically changed the global car market.
Fears from England show that this does not only have positive consequences: multi-storey car parks could even collapse due to the significantly heavier electric cars.
(lf, pf with dpa material)