VW teases U.S.-bound ID.4 crossover at Frankfurt

Volkswagen showed the I.D. Crozz concept in 2017 at the Shanghai Motor Show. Since then, the compact crossover that will launch VW’s EV push in the U.S. has shuffled its punctuation and acquired a new name, according to Automotive News. The German carmaker’s stand at the Frankfurt Motor Show included a camouflaged prototype of the electric act to follow the ID.3, and it will apparently be called ID.4., so says “a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified.” The pre-production version sat inside a glass box that VW piped fog into, but the much more traditional shape lines up with the prototype spied testing in July. 

The slick, crossover-coupe shape of the concept is no more, so too the sliding rear-doors. The display model hews to the two-box crossover format, featuring a much taller rear end and a roof spoiler above the backlight. Autocar says the standard ID.4 will be 182.1 inches long and 63.3 inches tall, which is exactly four inches longer than a Ford Escape and three inches squatter. However, the UK mag says an ID.4 crossover coupe “in the vein of the original [ID Crozz] concept” will appear at some point. 

Other aspects of the concept have carried into production. An 83-kWh battery in the floor of the MEB platform powers two motors, the motor on the front axle making 101 horsepower and 103 pound-feet of torque, the rear axle motor producing 201 hp and 228 lb-ft. We’re expecting a range of at least 500 kilometers, or 311 miles, on the European cycle, and an electronically-limited top speed of 120 miles per hour.  

AN says the ID.4 will arrive in the U.S. toward the end of next year. VW will build the EV in Europe for the first two years, before moving production to facilities in the U.S. and China; the Chattanooga, Tenn., plant is getting an $800 million overhaul for the purpose. We’ve no clue on pricing yet, but VW U.S. CEO Hinrich J. Woebcken has said the two-row crossover will be “affordable.”