Volkswagen to launch €25,000 EV later this year

Thankfully, we've seen a downward trend in the price of electric cars recently, with the arrival of Hyundai’s Inster from €18,995 and Dacia’s Spring at €16,990 being among the most noteworthy arrivals.

Now Volkswagen is moving into that competitive space and has announced that its ID 2 model will be on sale in Ireland by December - in time for 2026 registrations.

The car owes more in terms of its styling influences to the Golf than the ID models we’ve seen up to now - an indication of how much VW often strives to maintain familiar and successful formulae.

The car is described by VW as being as spacious as a Golf and as affordable as a Polo. The length (4.0 m), width (1.8 m) and height (1.5 m) would appear to back up the claim.

The ID is driven through the front wheels to create more interior space. What we have seen of the car until now is based on the concept version already revealed, but at this stage the overall design and main features should have been pretty much nailed down.

It’s expected there will be two battery options - a 38 kWh unit aimed at urban drivers and a 56 kWh unit for more mixed driving requirements. VW is claiming a range of up to 450 kilometres from the bigger battery, but the usual caveats on claimed ranges in less ideal conditions applies.

One of 10 new EV models to be launched by the VW Group by next year, the ID 2 is slated to come onto the market with a price of around €25,000 and will be, in the words of VW Ireland’s Director of Passenger Cars, Alan Bateson, a "game changer".

The company is also aiming to have another smaller EV priced at around €20,000 within the next two years.

We can expect several features from current ID models to be incorporated into the ID 2, including a 10.9" driver’s screen and a 12.9 infotainment screen. One thing that stands out is the plan to re-accommodate physical buttons to control things like climate and sound volume.

This is a very welcome move, as it obviates the need for digging into menus on a screen to carry out simple but important functions. It is a system employed by many car manufacturers currently and while it may look smart, it’s far from smart given the level of driver distraction often involved.

The fact that you have to go into a screen menu to adjust the wing mirrors on Volvo and Polestar models rather proves my point. And I suspect anyone familiar with VW’s "haptic sliders" on the steering wheel would welcome the return to buttons.

Boot capacity looks very generous at 490 litres, increasing to a load space of 1,330 litres with the rear seats folded.

Other brands in the VW Group - Skoda and Seat - will also get versions of the ID 2 and there’s even a plan to have a GTi version of it.

Interestingly, VW Ireland says its order bank for EV's over the new year period is currently up by 132% over the same time last year.