- ID. Every1 Concept trails VW’s entry into the booming €20k EV market.
- The subcompact EV has a single 94 hp motor and an 82mph top speed.
- Production model arrives in 2027, a year after the bigger, €25k ID.2.
Europe’s affordable EV market is hotting up. Stellantis’s Fiat and Citroen brands have already laid their cards on the table and this week we’ve got our first look at Volkswagen’s response. The ID. Every1 is officially a concept, but most of what you see here you’ll find on the production version in 2027.
Predicted to cost around €20,000 (£17k / $21k) when it hits dealers in two years, the Every1 goes on sale one year after the €25,000 (£21k / $26k) production take on 2023’s ID. 2all concept. But while the 2all’s size puts it between the current Golf and recently axed Polo, the Every1 is sized between the Polo and the Up!, which also got the chop not long ago.
Related: VW Drops New Sketches Of Its $21K Entry-Level EV
The Every1 occupies 3,880 mm (152.8 inches) of road space, compared with 3,600 mm (141.7 inches) for the Up! and 4,074 mm (160.4) for the Polo. VW promises interior space will match the Polo’s and the 305-liter luggage space splits the difference between what those two deceased combustion cars could deliver.
One of the secrets of the baby EV’s space efficiency is VW’s new MEB front-wheel-drive platform (current single-motor MEB ID cars are all RWD). A small electric motor in the nose generates 94 hp (95 PS / 70 kW), and while VW doesn’t quote a zero to 62 mph (100 kmh) time, it’s sure to be less lethargic than the electronically limited 82 mph (130 km/h) top speed suggests.
We’re still in the dark on battery size, but it’s got to be less than 40 kWh going by the claimed 155-mile (250 km) range. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s probably ample for most buyers given the Every1’s city-living remit, and is a key reason VW is able to bring the price down to little more than half that of the cheapest ID.3.
Strong design and classic cues
The FWD platform and price aren’t the only ways this new ID car – and the ID. 2all and its crossover spin-off also on the way – is moving away from a template laid down by cars like the ID.3 and ID.4. The front-drivers will usher in a new, more robust, more confident design language that makes even the most affordable member of the EV family look solid and expensive.
Okay, so the Lone Ranger eye mask looks conspicuously like the one on the front of the new Ford Capri (which is an ID.5 offshoot) or Suzuki’s aging Ignis, but it works far better here, fitting in perfectly with the smooth surfaces and squat stance. VW points out the straight window line, an early Golf design signature, and a refusal to get bogged down in current styling trends that could appear embarrassingly dated a few years down the road.
The black glass rear hatch tips a hat to the Up! but where that car looked awkwardly narrow, tall, and slab-sided, the Every1 looks wide and muscular, the swollen fenders over 19-inch wheels and chiseled skateboard-shaped recess in the rear bumper making the whole car seem more grown up.
Dashboards and buttons are back
The same goes for the interior, which we really hope transfers directly to the street. Again, design tricks – in this case the simple, long, flat dashboard shape – create an impression of width, and it’s interesting to see that after several years of freestanding mini-tablet gauge packs on its EVs, VW has recessed the instrument display in the main dash. Anyone else thinking 1991 Honda Prelude, or is it just me?
A chunky, squircle-shaped steering wheel features plenty of physical buttons and there are more buttons on the central section of the dashboard for the volume, cabin temperature, and seat heating. Perhaps surprisingly, though, there’s no sign of the rotary console dial seen on the ID. 2all and since productionized on the Euro Tiguan and Passat.
Most of the controls though, are housed inside the large tablet touchscreen, which will debut VW’s new software system, allowing owners to activate additional equipment months after the car has left the factory.
Minivan-style configurability
Other new features include a utility rail on the passenger side of the dashboard that lets passengers attach a tablet or even a table. And that sci-fi-looking console between the two seats can be slid backwards and forwards, and has extendable shelves, while VW suggests the front passenger- and rear seats can be folded in various ways to maximize practicality. Even if not all of these features make it to production, it’s clear that VW wants the ID.1 (or whatever name Wolfsburg settles on) to be more than just another straight-shootin’ electric hatch.
We’re still two years out from being able to buy the ID. Every1 but there’ll be plenty of new-generation ID activity to look forward to before then. VW says we’ll get another preview of its ‘Electric Urban Car Family’ in fall 2025, and it won’t be the only Group brand teasing future electric subcompacts built on this platform in the next 12 months.
