This is the interior of the Volkswagen ID.4, the brand’s first battery-electric SUV and the first electric vehicle Volkswagen will bring to Australia.
It’s a familiar look to that of the ID.3 hatchback, which is already on sale in Europe. We’ll be getting the ID.4 before that car, however, with a launch tipped for 2022 or 2023.
A full reveal of the ID.4 is set for this month though a series of photos have already been leaked from China.
Both the ID.3 and ID.4 feature extremely minimalist interiors, with a centre stack consisting of a high-mounted touchscreen infotainment system and only a couple of rows of controls below. Air vents sit below these, with the centre stack abruptly ending instead of flowing into the centre console. Ahead of the driver is a fully digital instrument cluster.
Available features include a panoramic sunroof and colour-adjustable ambient lighting.
Volkswagen claims rear cabin room in the roughly Tiguan-sized ID.4 is equivalent to an SUV the next class up, though that doesn’t extend to the boot – Volkswagen claims a total luggage space of 543L with both rows of seats up, which is slightly less than the 580L of a Toyota RAV4.
All ID. models will feature ID. Light, a light strip below the windscreen that will illuminate if, for example, the car has been unlocked, you need to brake, or you have an incoming phone call.
The 1ST Max limited edition will feature AGR-certified front seats with pneumatic lumbar supports that have a massaging function. Both this launch edition and the 1ST edition will feature animal-free upholstery made of leatherette and ArtVelours, a microfibre that consists of around 20 per cent recycled PET bottles.
The ID.4 will use the same MEB architecture as the ID.3, and will therefore offer a choice of rear- or all-wheel drive. Volkswagen claims top-spec versions will have an electric range of 500km under the stricter WLTP standards.
The ID.4 is a hugely consequential vehicle for Volkswagen. Though it’ll initially be produced only in Europe, Chinese and American production will begin shortly thereafter.
Volkswagen is understandably targeting the European market first with its ID.3 and ID.4, where emissions standards are much, much stricter than in Australia. And though the ID.3 was launched first, Volkswagen Australia wants to bring the ID.4 here before the smaller hatchback.
“It would be logical if we go the ID.4, the SUV [first]. I think the market here now is 65, 64 per cent SUV,” said Michael Bartsch, Volkswagen Australia managing director.
“That would make the most sense, that’s where the business model would be, because the volume would be there, because that’s where the market is.”
The ID.3 and ID.4 will be the volume players in Volkswagen’s ID range, though the company is planning a wide range of other models for the all-electric ID family including a production version of the mid-sized ID. Vizzion sedan and wagon and a reborn Kombi.
