VW presents e-car for 20,000 euros: “A real Volkswagen”

The price is a real announcement: 20,000 euros. The electric car is said to cost so much that VW wants to show in Düsseldorf in the evening. In terms of price, Volkswagen would not only undercut everything the group has to offer electrically, but also most of the competition. Until the entry -level model is at the dealer, customers must be patient: the ID is still. Every1 only one study, only in 2027 the series version should follow.

The group places great hopes in the model with which the Wolfsburgers want to round off their electrical parent. “Cheap electric cars are important,” says VW brand boss Thomas Schäfer. This is the only way to prevail electromobility. With the new entry -level model, one now wants to redeem the brand promise to create mobility for everyone.

First with the fully electric ID. And in 2027 then with the even smaller ID. Every1 for 20,000 euros, which is to succeed the VW Up set in 2023. The previously cheap electric VW ID.3, on the other hand, costs just under 30,000 euros-despite the current discount campaign.

Other manufacturers are faster: Citroën, Fiat, Renault and Hyundai will send new battery cars in a short episode this year, which are available for less than 25,000 euros. The 20,000 euros targeted by VW for 2027 do not create most.

So far, only the Dacia Spring is cheaper for just under 17,000 euros. And two newcomers to Chinese manufacturers who come to Europe this year: the Leap engine T03 for just under 19,000 euros and a slimmed -down BYD, which is said to start under 18,000 euros.

However, industry expert Frank Schwope from the University of Applied Sciences in Hanover warns: “The competition is not sleeping.” In three to four years, he estimates that electric cars will not be more expensive than combustion engines. In 2030 they should even become cheaper. “Then the whole thing will tip over.”

Brand boss Schäfer does not see the fact that VW’s 20,000 euro stream will only come in 2027 in 2027. “We bring our model exactly at the right time.” Then when more and more people wanted to switch to electromobility. “And if we are sure: This is a real Volkswagen.” Because, says Schäfer: “A real Volkswagen has to offer more than just a low price.”

For the first time, the manager had announced the cheap stromer two years ago. Even then he spoke of an enormous challenge to hit the targeted price. At times it was talked to Renault about a collaboration, but the idea was buried.

Instead, the car should now be created on its own. However, there will be no even cheaper sister model from Škoda. According to “Spiegel”, the little VW is already calculated so pointed that the price of the Czech daughter simply could not be undercut.

E-cars are still more shop keepers. After the purchase bonus in Germany was deleted at the end of 2023, paragraph 2024 broke up by more than 27 percent. And while around a quarter of the new cars drove purely electrically in the upper middle class and at SUVs, the proportion of small cars was below five percent.

This is mainly due to the high price. In a representative survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the news agency dpa, 47 percent of those surveyed said at the end of February: Above all, the high acquisition costs speak against e-mobility. The price was the most common obstacle, even with a lack of range and gaps in the shop network.

Electrical models for more than 30,000 euros, as previously prevailed on the market, are out of the question for half of the respondents. 16 percent named 15,000 euros as a pain limit, another 14 percent 20,000 euros – that is exactly the price that VW is now targeting. Almost a quarter of the respondents showed a significant preference for German brands. But just under 40 percent of them would pay more.

Brand chief Schäfer also knows that there is not much earnings with the 20,000 euro current. “Small vehicles are always more demanding than big on the return,” he says. CEO Oliver Blume had rejected a cancellation in Germany a cancellation for cost reasons a year ago. At least in production in Europe, VW wants to hold on. According to “Business Insider”, it should amount to Portugal.

The fact that e-cars are so expensive so far is mainly due to the electricity storage. “If the battery of a vehicle alone costs around 7,500 euros or more, then of course it makes a massive impact on a small car,” says Stefan Reindl from the Geislinger Institute for Automobile Economy. “With larger vehicles that already cost 60,000 or 70,000 euros, it is no longer very important.”

That is why almost all manufacturers-including those from the VW group-initially set SUVs and large limousines at the e-cars. Seggments in which more money can be earned anyway. But, according to Reindl: This does not allow the mass market to be conquered. And now the batteries are also much cheaper. The problem is now the high investments. “Otherwise we would certainly have cheaper prices.”

VW’s move is accordingly important, says industry expert Stefan Bratzel from the Center of Automotive Management in Bergisch Gladbach. For a wide range of electromobility, cheap entry models are simply needed. And here there must also be reasonable offers from German manufacturers, especially VW. “This is also important for the image of the brand.” And could give the entire e-car market thrust again. “In this respect, everyone is eagerly awaiting this model.”

It is still open how VW will call its entry -level power in the end. It is unlikely that it will really be called ID.1, as it is called internally. Schäfer has already assured several times that he Wegwill from the anonymous numbers of the ID models, which were introduced under the ex-corporate boss Herbert Diess. Back to names like Golf and Tiguan, which he wants to save into the electrical age. Whether from ID.1 a new ID at the end. Could be up? Schäfer is still covered: “Be excited.”