VW confirms ID.4 name, provides details on production electric crossover

Volkswagen will call the production version of the ID Crozz concept the ID.4 in a move that will surprise no one. But it released some official new renderings and photos of lightly camouflaged versions and confirmed a few other new details, with more likely to be released in a webcast Tuesday from Wolfsburg that was put together in the wake of the cancellation of the Geneva Motor Show.

Among the new bits are plans to offer the electric crossover initially in rear-wheel drive and, later, in an all-wheel drive variant. The automaker didn’t immediately detail any specs except to say driving range was up to 500 kilometers, or 310 miles, on the generous European WLTP cycle, depending on the drivetrain package selected, suggesting there will be multiple battery sizes on offer. What’s more, Volkswagen claims that by being built at its environmentally friendly plant in Zwickau, Germany, where it’s also building the ID.3 compact hatchback, the ID.4 will be carbon-neutral along the entire production chain.

We’re initially told only that the ID.4 will follow the example of the ID.3 in being introduced to Europe in 2020. We’re expecting a U.S. launch this year as well, with recent sightings of a very lightly disguised, near-production version. A VW spokesman said only that the crossover would be introduced in Europe before the U.S.

Like the ID.3, the ID.4 will be built on VW’s modular MEB electric drive platform, which gives it a long wheelbase, ensuring plenty of passenger room and well-balanced weight distribution with a low center of gravity from storing the battery underneath the passengers. What we’re shown via the new images differs slightly from the most recent spy shots, with less pronounced (faux?) front air vents and LED light bars connecting both the head- and taillights, among other differences. Volkswagen says interior controls will be almost all via touch-sensitive buttons and surfaces or via voice control.

Having already started production of the ID.3 late last year, Volkswagen now says its target for EV production is 1.5 million units by 2025, up from 1 million. This in spite of an all-out drive by VW engineers to vanquish reported issues with the ID.3’s software that have slowed its rollout.

The automaker also said it has now received more than 37,000 reservations for the ID.3 launch edition, which is limited to 30,000 units, since opening up order books last spring, so many that VW is pulling the plug on the e-Golf to make way for it. We’ll likely find out more from VW’s livestream event when we wake up here on the other side of the pond.

Related Video: