As reported by the German car magazine Auto, Motor und Sport, customers eager to get their hands on the ID.2 will have to exercise patience, waiting almost two and a half years before significant deliveries commence.At the CES in Las Vegas, VW managers now denied the delay.

Currently, Volkswagen’s cheapest battery-powered model costs roughly 40 000 euros. But the ID.2, showcased in a preview in March 2023 as a Polo-sized small electric car targeting a base list price of approximately €25 000, must change all that. As any automaker addressing a broad customer pool, an affordable EV plays a crucial role in the company’s electrification strategy.

Outpaced by Citroën and Renault

Therefore, the ID.2 will face stiff competition from earlier entrants into the electric small car market, primarily from China and Europe. Citroën has already started accepting orders for the ë-C3, priced from €23 300, while Renault plans to launch the R5 at the end of this year with an expected cost of around €25 000.

Additionally, Renault has announced an electric Twingo priced below €20 000 for 2025. Interestingly, the German newspaper Handelsblatt wrote that Volkswagen is in talks with the French carmaker to build a German twin of the Twingo, dubbed ID.1. Neither side has confirmed this.

Given the timeline and background, the ID.2 will arrive late to the party, while Volkswagen needs to scale up its BEV output as dwindling incentives in its homeland are taking a bite out of the order book. The slow adoption of its electric range has forced the carmaker to a cost-cutting exercise worth €10 billion.

Due to Euro 7?

Volkswagen had initially aimed for a base price of under €24 000 for the ID.2. But significant rises in raw material prices and the impact of inflation are reshaping that goal. “The boundary conditions change almost weekly,” said VW Board Member for Development Kai Grünitz to Auto, Motor und Sport. “You have to adapt to that.”

Volkswagen plans two versions of its small electric city car, with 34 and around 60 kWh. The base model, the main driver for the base price, especially plays a tight game. Though Volkswagen referred to LFP technology for the 34 kWh version, the competition turned to higher capacity packs (Citroën ë-C3: 44 kWh).

And then there’s another hitch: small battery packs are hardly bought in model ranges where they serve as entry-level offerings. So, the packaging of the ID.2 might be small, but the awaited challenges are pretty big.

Official denial

Meanwhile, VW denies that the launch of the ID.2 will be postponed. Chief Development Officer Kai Grünitz told the German magazine Automobilwoche on the sidelines of a Volkswagen press conference at the CES in Las Vegas that the model was on schedule and that the start of production was still planned for the beginning of 2026.

“Contrary to media reports, there has been no postponement of the production version of the ID. 2all,” he says. Strictly speaking, the initial media report did not claim that Volkswagen would delay the start of production of the ID.2. It said that the carmaker would not ramp up production before May.

However, Volkswagen seems keen to dispel rumors of an alleged delay. Volkswagen’s press department explained at the request of Automobilwoche: “The production version of the show car ID. 2all will be presented as planned at the end of 2025 and will launch in 2026 at prices starting at under 25,000 euros. The series versions of the ID. 2all SUV and the ID. GTI Concept will also be presented in 2026.”