The Paris Motor Show is approaching and will count for much of the automotive news for October. Volkswagen, reportedly, will be bringing a new electric vehicle to preview on the show floor - one that’s being fast-tracked for production as a mass market EV with a range of between 400km and 600km.
According to German magazine Wirtschafts Woche, Volkswagen CEO Hebert Diess revealed that the upcoming car will come in a form that we’re used to seeing from VW and will indeed be of similar size to a Golf hatch, but due to the unique packaging that a car lacking an internal combustion engine and transmission allows, would have the cabin and cargo capacity comparable to a Passat.
Earmarked for a late 2018 production debut, this as-yet unnamed car will likely also be in direct competition with the Tesla Model 3 which is also positioned to reach the market in 2018. Mercedes-Benz, too, is looking very closely at the electric car segment and could reveal a more affordable model to complement the higher-end electric offerings that its recent concepts have hinted at being well into development.
The Volkswagen Group is a company that is uncommonly motivated to eschew fossil fuel and embrace electric vehicles, especially after the calamity that followed the dieselgate emissions cheating scandal that broke in the latter half of 2015. This new car slated for a 2016 reveal in Paris could be the spearhead to their planned EV assault.
In the near year that has followed since, Volkswagen has outlined a plan to invest extraordinarily in new propulsion technologies and introduce a lofty total of 30 electric vehicles by the year 2025. That’s throughout its subsidiary companies too, mind you, including Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Skoda, and Seat.
Seemingly, the largest hurdle in Volkswagen’s large-scale EV production ambitions are in regards to the volume of lithium-ion battery cells that would be needed. Relying on third-party suppliers is risky won’t come close to meeting production demand, prompting companies like Tesla to build a dedicated facility for it and Mercedes-Benz moving to acquire smaller battery companies before slowly fashioning their own.
Volkswagen, though, is one of the world’s largest automotive companies, second only to Toyota with which it trades places frequently as the top manufacturer by volume each year. Resources won’t be a problem, most likely, but VW will have to extrapolate a clear trajectory for sourcing and machining the critical components for EVs if it intends to stay on their 2025 schedule to have 30 fully electric cars or more on the market.
Between now and midway through the 2020s, Volkswagen’s reinvention as an eminent EV manufacturer and technology leader will have to be meticulously executed and will be fascinating to watch nonetheless.
For more on Volkswagen vehicles, including pricing and specifications, check out our Showroom.
