VW I.D. Vizzion to be the flagship of the I.D. family

With the I.D. Vizzion, VW has unveiled the future flagship of its all-electric I.D. family at the Geneva Autoshow. Moreover, the Germans presented a school bus based on its mobility concept Sedric as well as a mobile charging robot jointly developed with Kuka.

The latest member of the electric I.D. family will reach the roads by 2022 at the latest. The full-grown premium saloon shall become VW’s top model of the I.D. family. As reported, the MEB-based I.D. Vizzion comes with extended autonomous features and the capacity to run up to 665 km on a single charge. Both the car as well as the range are designed as extra long. Technical specs include two electric drives delivering 225 kW together for a top speed of 180 kph and a 111 kWh battery pack.

“The I.D. Vizzion is our very realistic vision for a Volkswagen of the future”, said Dr. Herbert Diess, CEO of the Volkswagen brand, in the wake of the presentation. “The model will be prepared for fully autonomous driving. Step-by-step, it will relieve the driver of tasks – if the driver so wishes. With the I.D. Vizzion we are underlining Volkswagen’s claim: we want to be among the leaders in shaping the individual mobility of the future.”

Moreover, VW brought an updated version of its driverless mobility concept Sedric (short for “Self driving concept”) to Geneva. The Sedric School Bus follows on the original Sedric presented in Geneva one year ago, the Sedric 42 and the Sedric Nightlife. All of them are electric vehicles with SAE level 5 autonomous and consequently come without a steering wheel or pedals. According to VW, the mobility concept serves as a cross-brand ideas platform for fully automated driving.

But that’s not all: Together with the automation specialist Kuka, VW developed “CarLa”, a charging robot for EVs designed for both public spaces and home application. According to Volkswagen, the robot “automatically begins charging the vehicle once it has been parked – preferably autonomously”. Both companies agree to extend the research cooperation to the pilot production stage. “People will only accept this technology if they can charge their vehicles quickly, easily and conveniently”, says Volkswagen CEO Matthias Müller. “I am convinced that the future belongs to service robots like ‘CarLa’.”

Finally, VW has officially started introducing a second shift in its production plant Gläserne Manufaktur (“Transparent Factory”) in Dresden as planned. With this step the carmaker intends to significantly raise the output from 36 to 72 vehicles per day. In 2017, roughly 5,350 VW e-Golf rolled off the lines. The Gläserne Manufaktur is a production plant of Volkswagen that features a stunning design created by architect Gunter Henn. Opened in 2002, it is situated in Dresden, the capital of Germany’s federal state of Saxony.
carscoops.com, greencarcongress.com, volkswagen-media-services.com (all I.D. Vizzion), carscoops.com, volkswagen-media-services.com (both Sedric School bus), volkswagen-media-services.com (CarLa), automobilwoche.de, volkswagen-media-services.com (both Gläserne Manufaktur, in German)