Volkswagen AG (NASDAQ: VLKAY) presented its latest concept car ahead of the Paris Motor Show. One year after the diesel emission scandal, the company unveils the VW I.D. concept, a would be a fully electric five-door hatchback with a range as high as 372 miles.
I.D. introduced itself as the first of a “highly innovative” fleet of EVs that will hit the roads in 2020 and are coming with automatic driving features. The German automaker expects to sell 1 million EVs a year by 2025.
I.D. adopts a new design language that will be exclusive to VW’s future brand of EVs. The main feature is that the front end is completely blank, and the headlamps and the logo are now digital and wrapped in LED daytime running lights.
‘Electric, connected, autonomous’
Volkswagen believes the car would reach between 248 and 372 miles on a single charge (up to 600 km), and capable of recharging to full power in 15 minutes. I.D. will have a 167-horsepower electric motor to make VK’s dreams come true.
I.D. only comes electric. The concept turned the space of the combustion engine into more space for the passengers. On that regard, the company assures it is as big as a Golf from the outside but as has as much room as a Passat on the inside, enough to fit five people.
The controls of the car will rely on augmented reality displayed on the windshield. It will have no controls, no gear, no switches, just touchscreens. It will always be online, ready for the next update from the Volkswagen cloud.
Likely, the car will connect 24 hours to its mobile app. Users can check information about the vehicle, change the colors of the bottom lights, or tell the I.D. to pick them up via their smartphones.
The concept, as it is a vision for the future, will pack a fully autonomous driving system that doesn’t exist yet, the I.D. Pilot. When the driverless mode engages, the steering wheel will fold into the dashboard to give the driver room to get comfortable.
However, the I.D. pilot is not coming online until 2015, while the I.D., first of a new EV series, is coming on 2020.
Market launch will be in 2020
I.D. will take off as a parallel of the regular VK Golf so that it will have the same cost as its fuel-engine brother. It is unclear whether the concept will mark the end of the e-Golf, but it is safe to say the company wants to steer away as far as possible from diesel engines.
Source: Auto Express