Many family-friendly crossovers are toughening up and going back to nature, and the Volkswagen doesn’t want the ID.4 to miss out on the action.
The ID.Xtreme concept was unveiled to the public over the weekend at a Volkswagen ID meetup in Locarno, Switzerland, on the shores of the Lake Maggiore.
Volkswagen claims the ID.Xtreme is about as environmentally-friendly as a concept car can get. The show car has a used 82kWh battery pack, and is based on the body and chassis of a development test vehicle.
While the company has no specific claims about the concept’s off-road ability, such as its approach, departure and ramp-over angles, or its fording depth, the ID.Xtreme certainly looks more capable away from tarmac than the ID.4 it’s based on.
The car is 50mm wider thanks to 3D-printed wheel arch extensions to house the significantly broader track. It rides on 18-inch alloy wheels with chunky high-profile tyres, and a raised suspension setup.
Up front there’s a modified front bumper with the lower section painted in matte black and fitted with a nudge bar. On the top of the ID.Xtreme is a roof carrier and LED lights.
The body is finished with a grey and orange wrap over a white body. The orange highlight colour is apparently carried through to the interior, which features redesigned seats and faux suede upholstery.
To give the car a little more aural appeal, Volkswagen has fitted sound generators in the wheel housings, and developed a special “driving noise” for the ID.Xtreme — one imagines it will be more heavy metal than a syrupy ballad.
As with the regular ID.4 GTX, the ID.Xtreme has a two-motor all-wheel drive system developing a total of 220kW.
On the road, the GTX is capable of sprinting from 0-100km/h in 6.2 seconds. We imagine the ID.Xtreme is touch slower.
The GTX is said to be have a range of 480km using the WLTP testing standard.
