VW cancels US plans for the ID.7
In May 2024, VW had already postponed the introduction of the ID.7 in the US and Canada indefinitely and has now decided to abandon the plan completely, according to The Car Guide and Automotive News. The former claims the news comes “straight from the automaker’s Canadian head of communications.” An unspecified VW spokesperson told Automotive News that the decision was due to “the ongoing challenging EV climate.” There is no confirmation from Wolfsburg as yet.
When VW postponed the market launch planned in May, it also cited the current market environment as the reason. However, preparations were in full swing for the announced start of deliveries in the third quarter of 2024, and Volkswagen of America published the offer structure for the ID.7 at the end of March. Volkswagen wanted to offer two equipment variants, each of which could be ordered with rear or all-wheel drive. However, pricing and the official EPA range were not yet known and were supposed to be announced after the launch.
How VW would have priced the ID.7 in North America will probably never be made public. It is known that the German carmaker had its sights set on the US with the electric saloon. It presented a camouflaged version of the model at CES 2023 – before the actual world premiere. And in September 2024, VW is said to have exhibited the ID.7 at a US dealer meeting in Florida. However, Pablo Di Si, at the time head of Volkswagen USA and who had prepared the market launch of the ID.7, had to leave Volkswagen in November.
The change of plans for North America is presumably also bad news for the Emden plant in Germany, as there were no plans for North American production of the ID.7. That means that the vehicles for the US market would probably have had to be manufactured in Emden, as was once the case with the ID.4. In view of the political tensions between China and the US, it is unlikely that the China version would have been exported to the US.
In Europe, however, interest in the ID.7 and ID.7 Tourer appears to be growing. In mid-January, VW Board Member for Sales Martin Sander said in a press release that the trend in incoming orders in Europe was positive and that they were “currently selling more ID.7 models than Passat.”
The fact that a German automaker has completely cancelled its US plans for an electric model following a postponement is not without precedent. At the end of 2019, Mercedes had already postponed the US launch of the EQC, originally planned for 2020, to 2021. In February 2021, however, it was then announced that the electric SUV built in Bremen would not be sold in the United States.
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