VW to delay ID.2 production ramp-up to 2026

As the German publication Auto, Motor, Sport reports, citing company sources, VW customers will have to wait almost two and a half years before the ID.2 is delivered in significant numbers. The model is to be the first electric Volkswagen to be offered for less than 25,000 euros in the basic version. The manufacturer provided a foretaste of the model last spring with the ID.2all concept.

According to the above-mentioned source, production of the small car will not be ramped up until May 2026, although the car will be unveiled in autumn 2025. According to information from Auto, Motor, Sport, the price for the basic version will remain below the 25,000 euro mark, but only just.

“When we defined the price, it wasn’t based on wishful thinking. We defined clear measures, including at battery level, to ensure that we also achieve the price,” VW Board Member for Development Kai Grünitz is quoted as saying in the article. Originally, the ID.2 was even supposed to cost less than 24,000 euros, but this is no longer the case. In the meantime, raw material prices have risen significantly and there is also inflation. “The boundary conditions change almost weekly, that’s true,” says Grünitz. “You have to adapt to that.”

As the upcoming EU7 emissions standard is less stringent than expected, small cars with combustion engines that are significantly cheaper than the ID.2 will also remain on the market. The report goes on to say that even the basic version of the in-house VW Polo is currently available at a significantly lower price, starting at just 21,590 euros. The ID.2 also has a problem with the fact that the competition is coming onto the market much earlier – mainly from China, of course, but also from Europe: Citroën is already accepting orders for the ë-C3, which is positioned as a city car (from 23,300 euros), while Renault wants to launch the R5 at the end of 2024, which is expected to cost around 25,000 euros. And the electric Twingo for under 20,000 euros has been announced for 2025.

In order to be able to offer a small electric car at a base price of less than 20,000 euros in the future, VW is also considering a cooperation with a competitor for the ID.1. Initial talks are said to have already taken place – with Renault. The “Handelsblatt” newspaper wrote in December, citing several people familiar with the matter, that joint development and production are intended to reduce costs.

The technology on which the small electric cars of a possible cooperation are to be based was only mentioned in one sentence in the Handelsblatt article: “According to insiders, VW is said to be interested in Twingo technology.” For the ID.2 and its offshoots, VW wants to use a simplified version of the MEB, sometimes called “MEB Entry” or “MEB Small”.

At the same time, Volkswagen also wants to pave the way for affordable small electric cars in China. At the end of November, the Wolfsburg-based company confirmed that it was working on a new China platform derived from the MEB. VW did not state in the press release when exactly the first corresponding models will be launched and how much they will cost. However, another German publication, the Handelsblatt newspaper, also reported in November on four additional Chinese electric models with a price range of the equivalent of 18,000 to 22,000 euros, which are to be launched on the market from 2026.

Update 9 January 2024

VW denies that the launch of the ID.2 will be postponed. Chief Development Officer Kai Grünitz told Automobilwoche on the sidelines of a Volkswagen press conference at the CES in Las Vegas that the model was on schedule and that the start of production was still planned for the beginning of 2026. “Contrary to media reports, there has been no postponement of the production version of the ID. 2all,” he says.

Strictly speaking, the initial media report did not claim that Volkswagen would delay the start of production of the ID.2. It said that the carmaker would not ramp up production before May.

However, Volkswagen seems keen to dispel rumours of an alleged delay. Volkswagen’s press department explained at the request of Automobilwoche: “The production version of the show car ID. 2all will be presented as planned at the end of 2025 and will launch in 2026 at prices starting at under 25,000 euros. The series versions of the ID. 2all SUV and the ID. GTI Concept will also be presented in 2026.”

lifepr.de, automobilwoche.de (update; in German)