FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: Volkswagen ID.3 officially revealed

The original People’s Car is about to become the People’s Electric Car with the ground-breaking new Volkswagen ID.3 unveiled overnight ahead of today’s Frankfurt motor show.

Starting at less than €30,000 in its home market of Germany, the oft-teased Volkswagen ID.3 hatch has the interior size of a Passat even though the footprint is the size of a Golf.

In Australia, the ID.3 hatch will be priced in line with the current diesel-powered Golf - about $45,000, officials have confirmed.

It’s the first on-sale Volkswagen-brand evidence of the Volkswagen Group’s €9 billion electrification push between now and 2023, which will spread across all of its brands except Ducati and Bugatti and has even borne fruit at Lamborghini already. Its other EV hits have been the Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron and the upcoming Audi e-tron GT.

The Volkswagen ID.3 will have up to 550km of range on the tough WLTP real-world test cycle and can recharge to 290km of range in just 30 minutes on a 100kW direct-current charger. Its maximum alternating-current charge rate is 11kW.

The ID.3 is the first of dozens of EVs planned off the Volkswagen Group’s bet-the-farm Modular Electric Drive Matrix (MEB) architecture, which will spawn at least five more Volkswagens, two more Seats, three more Skodas, two Audis and an unknown number of Fords.

It doesn’t just walk the environmentally friendly talk, either. The ID.3 is the first Volkswagen to guarantee not just CO2-neutral production, but an entirely CO2-neutral supply chain, too.

“With the ID.3 Volkswagen is heading towards the future,” Volkswagen’s design boss Klaus Bischoff insisted.

“The natural style and absolutely intuitive user experience demonstrate a new, electric way of thinking.”

Riding on 18-, 19- or 20-inch alloy rims, the ID.3 1st edition – which has already attracted 30,000 pre-orders in Europe -- will arrive with the mid-range 58kW/hour lithium-ion battery, which will be enough for 420km of range on the real-world WLTP measuring cycle.

It will be straddled later by an entry-level 45kW/h ID.3 and a thumping 77kW/h version, complete with 550km of electric range on a single charge.

Volkswagen is also offering an eight-year, 160,000km guarantee on ID.3 batteries.

With a 150W/310Nm electric motor on the rear axle, the ID.3 1st edition is strong enough for a 160km/h top speed, limited by its single-speed gearbox.

While the battery pack has been integrated into the MEB platform’s space between the axles, the actual driving shenanigans are isolated to the rear axle, which kind of takes Volkswagen back in time.

The permanent-magnet synchronous motor, its single-speed gearbox and the power electronics are all integrated into the rear axle.

To balance the weight (and its centre of gravity is already low because of the battery location), the air-conditioning compressor and other ancillaries sit at the front-end of the car.

The power electronics converts the DC power in the battery to the AC power needed by the electric motor, and there’s a parallel 12-volt electrical system that is fed by a lower voltage DC/DC converter.

The 45kW/h ID.3, which won’t be immediately available, will have a WLTP range of 330km and can be recharged at a maximum rate of either 7.2kW (AC) or 50kW (DC), though a 100kW DC charging rate is an option.

The biggest-battery variant can swallow up to 125kW of direct-current power for faster charging.

Roughly as long as a Golf, the ID.3 four-door is 4261mm long (a Golf Mk VII is 4255mm), though its 2765mm wheelbase is considerably longer (128mm).

It is 1809mm wide (+10mm to a Golf) and 1552mm high (+100mm), but the really tough engineering has been in keeping its kerb weight down to 1719kg in its small-battery version – around 300kg more than a base-level, three-cylinder Golf. The five-seater’s luggage capacity sits at 385 litres

Its urban EV message is confirmed with a turning circle of just 10.2 metres and a drag coefficient of 0.267 and it even has a bicycle towing bracket as an option, with a 750kg towball load.

There will be a basic ID.3 1st package, then an ID.3 1st Plus and then the Max.

The entry-spec has a free choice of interior and exterior colours, but the rest of its spec is limited to in-car navigation, a DAB+ radio, seat and steering-wheel heating, 18-inch alloys, front armrests and a Mode 2 charging cable.

The Plus will respond with a rear-view camera, adaptive cruise control, advanced keyless-entry locking and starting, a centre console with two USB-C connections and ambient lighting. It also scores matrix LED headlights, and matrix sidelights, tail-light clusters, brake lights and turn indicators.

The Max jumps the game up with an augmented-reality head-up display, a Beats sound system, a panorama sliding glass roof, 20-inch wheels, lane-keeping, comfort seats and a level luggage-compartment floor.

Volkswagen insists the car will be as easy to drive as a standard small hatch, or even easier and certainly quieter.

It will run a brake and accelerator pedal and a steering wheel, so the basics should be familiar.

From there, there’s a centrally mounted 10-inch touchscreen infotainment screen, an LED strip of information during navigation and augmented-reality head-up information, including prompts to brake in emergencies.

All controls use touch functions or touch-sensitive buttons, with the only traditional switches being those operating the windows and the hazard lights.

For those who don’t like full touch operation, there is a next-level voice-activation system.

There are two home garage recharging options with two levels of ID Charger.

Volkswagen hasn’t released the final charging rates or the price for the Charger yet, but they will also have a data link and remote access, along with an integrated electricity meter.

Volkswagen says it has worked hard to ensure the entire supply chain is carbon-neutral, including battery-cell production, the manufacturing facility in Zwickau and even the paint shop.

The ID.3’s Volkswagen-owned manufacturing facilities use hydro-electric power and have done since 2017. If any CO2 emissions are unavoidable in the supply chain, Volkswagen has promised to offset that with climate-protection programs.

Most of the 30,000 pre-orders for the ID.3 1st Edition have come from Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, with a further 100,000-plus registering their interest.

The ID.3 hatch is one of three ID models (including an SUV previewed by the I.D. Crozz concept and a Kombi people-mover previewed by the I.D. Buzz concept) under consideration by Volkswagen for Australia, with an earliest arrival of 2022.

Volkswagen Australia spokesman Kurt McGuiness expressed interest in offering all three models Down Under.

"The ID. Buzz has great fleet potential as it's just so modular," he said.