Affordable EVs are on a lot of people’s minds these days, but one name is missing from the conversation. Volkswagen launched its ID family of EVs seven years ago with the promise of electric mobility for “the millions, not millionaires,” but in the United States at least, the promise remains just that.
The VW Group has lavished resources on its luxury brands Audi and Porsche, and even created the new Scout brand to challenge Rivian, but it’s let its namesake brand stagnate. VW only sells the aging ID.4 crossover in the U.S. It’s an unfortunate situation for what was one of the most promising efforts by an established automaker to bring EVs to the masses. But VW may have already figured a way out.
The ID Vision
Out of the soot and ashes of the “Dieselgate” emissions scandal, Volkswagen doubled down on an EVs as a way to clean up its image and meet stricter future emissions standards. What it came up with was a flexible architecture called MEB that could support multiple models built in large volumes, providing the economies of scale to make EVs affordable and profitable.
To show it was serious, VW named first MEB-based model—a European-market hatchback shaped like a 1990s computer mouse—the ID.3 to signify its status as an epoch-making vehicle following the original Beetle and the Golf, the model that brought VW into the modern age and ushered in the era of the basic, front-wheel drive compact car. Production started in 2019 and VW said at the time that it would have 50 electric models totaling 15 million cumulative global sales by 2028.
Knowing that Americans have an aversion to hatchbacks (in part because of bad memories of early diesel versions of the Golf), VW opted to bring the MEB revolution to this market with the ID.4, a crossover SUV designed to compete against popular models like the Toyota RAV4. More importantly, VW planned to build the ID.4 in large numbers at its Tennessee factory, nudge dealers into selling them, and price them competitively starting at around $35,000.
The ID.4 reality
VW was able to deliver on that promise initially. The ID.4 launched in 2021 as a somewhat bland entry that, aside from early software issues, was also inoffensive. Much like the gasoline crossovers it hoped to compete against, in other words. The EV had a starting price of $41,190 with 260 miles of range in rear-wheel drive launch form. VW soon added an all-wheel drive version and ramped up production in Tennessee.
The automaker went on sell a high of 37,789 units in 2023, but a door-latch issue that forced a recall and production halt curtailed sales in 2024. Production restarted just in time for the cancellation of federal EV incentives and general economic chaos of 2025, but VW rallied to sell 23,373 units over the course of the entire. However, another production slowdown meant the ID.4 ran out of charge toward the end of the year, with just 248 vehicles delivered in Q4.
A chaotic 2025 likely hid what should be a steady decline. The ID.4 is now an old model by industry standards, and no longer competitive with the likes of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6, whose 800-volt electrical architectures leave the VW in the dust when it comes to charging. And while the longest-range versions can now go about 290 miles per charge, the price has also crept up to about $45,000. You can spec a 318-mile Ioniq 5 for about $7,500 less.
Distractions
How did VW get to this point? Mission creep is partly to blame. The automaker did introduce a cheaper version of the ID.4 for the 2023 model year, but it still cost just under $39,000 — still a few grand off from the original target — and only had 209 miles of range. But VW largely ignored the ID.4 after that and focused on two models that proved to be a waste of time.
The first was the ID.7 sedan which, despite its sleek looks, was always going to be a tough sell in the U.S. Whether they’re gasoline or electric, sedan sales have hit a low point on this side of the Atlantic. VW talked a big game, staging a U.S. reveal and even inviting American media to drive the ID.7, but pulled the plug before sales started.
Meanwhile, VW had been teasing a modern version of the classic Microbus based on the MEB architecture, starting with a concept car that appeared at the 2017 Detroit Auto Show. The production ID.Buzz didn’t reach the U.S. until the 2025 model year, and only in an overpriced form that drew few takers. As of this writing, the Buzz has been put on hold for the 2026 model year. The fact that the ID.Buzz was spearheaded by VW’s European commercial-vehicle division likely contributed to its flop as a U.S.-market passenger vehicle.
Can VW turn things around?
It’s tempting to think that VW’s sputtering EV efforts are just another manifestation of the automaker’s difficulty in understanding the U.S. market, the same ignorance (or perhaps arrogance) that led to Dieselgate and has generally kept VW a smaller player in this market for a company of its size. Only this time, VW might actually have a plan to turn things around.
Automotive News Europe reported this week that, as part of an upcoming refresh, the ID.4 will become the ID.Tiguan. It signifies a move away from the ID EV models as a new era for VW, but also brings the ID.4 closer to its original mission of competing with the most-popular gasoline crossovers. The Tiguan is VW’s bestselling model in the U.S., and borrowing its name gives customers a frame of reference, just as the Chevrolet Equinox EV does for General Motors shoppers. Hopefully that’s backed by changes that make the ID.4/Tiguan feel more like a normal car and less like a mashup of tech trends.
A refreshed ID.4 could still be relevant in a U.S. market where small electric crossovers remain popular, and where VW already has a local manufacturing base many other brands wish they had. It’ll still be a far cry from the lofty goals that kicked off the ID project (VW said in 2024 that it had sold 1.3 million ID-family EVs globally), but an affordable, practical EV is still as important today as it was then.
Source: www.digitaltrends.com
