Volkswagen has two new EVs, the ID.Every1 and the ID.2All. Neither will come to the U.S. Speaking to media at the New York International Auto Show (NYIAS), VW’s North American CEO, Kjell Gruner, confirmed to Car and Driver that the two small hatchback models won’t come Stateside. Why? They’re apparently too slow.
American Buyers Won’t Want A Small, Affordable EV?
Volkswagen has two small hatchbacks planned for Europe, recently shown as concept cars. The ID.Every1 concept is the smaller of the two, intended to slot in under the ID.2All. In the company’s home market, VW has targeted a starting price of just $22,000 for the 94-ish horsepower ID.Every1. The concept offered around 155 miles of range, something that’ll likely be close at production time. It’s easy to see why Gruner might say the ID.Every1 is too slow. It offers 20 fewer horses than the lowest-powered EV on sale in the US currently, the Fiat 500e.
“These products are too slow [for the U.S. market]. You would just end up with a niche product that is too expensive for what it does.”
Meanwhile, the ID.2all is to be larger, and thus, more expensive. VW is aiming for the $25,000-mark over in Europe. By the time either of these vehicles got here, especially should they be hit with tariffs, Gruner’s point stands. VW would be importing two expensive, low-powered hatchbacks into a market that loves big SUVs. The 2all is closer to the U.S.-market Golf in size, and its 280 miles of predicted range sounds okay, but the 233-horsepower hatch would be overpriced. So, VW is going to stick to what works.
Volkswagen Will Stick To SUVs (And Maybe A Truck)
“There’s going to be an Atlas successor, obviously, coming out,” says Gruner about the company’s focus on SUVs in the American market. The new Atlas will also be accompanied by more off-road-focused riffs. The Peak Edition added a little ground clearance and some solid all-terrain tires to the Atlas, and it’s easy to see this idea expanding to other SUVs in the lineup, given Kjell’s comment below.
Personally, I am a big fan of these [the Atlas’ Peak Edition]. I think it works really well for the Atlas, but I could see that in different vehicles, most importantly in our SUVs. That is something I believe American consumers want, and we’re working on that.
Meanwhile, the company is also eyeing a truck. “That’s one of the growth options we are discussing,” said Kjell. “We need to find the synergies with other vehicles we have in the market, from the platform side, the manufacturing side, to make it viable.” Again, the CEO voiced an issue with European imports, not just now, but broadly. It’s a quick way to make something appetizing unaffordable to the American buyer. For now, VW is looking at a unibody or body-on-frame truck, possibly with an electric drive system and a range extender. It makes sense given the company’s recent acquisition of Scout Motors, which will offer a Rivian competitor equipped with a gasoline range extender soon.
TopSpeed’s Take
The Golf is the last small VW in the U.S. We don’t have all the marketing data VW does, but perhaps if the company could bring a small, affordable EV to market by producing it at one of its U.S. facilities, the idea won’t die with the pair of ID concepts. Americans simply cannot afford their big, expensive cars. Car payments are sky-high, and an opportunity does exist at the bottom of the market. Whoever can figure out how to get there first will likely get the spoils.
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