Volkswagen ID.4 GTX revealed

The World Car of the Year-winning Volkswagen ID.4 electric SUV has done a lot of things for Volkswagen, and now the GTX performance version will do even more.

The all-new mid-size EV crossover, which will spearhead Volkswagen Australia’s EV assault within about two years, has already given VW trophies, sales and the credibility of a three-continent EV positioned in the heart of the most popular SUV segment.

But the Volkswagen ID.4 hasn’t given the German car-maker a lot of speed, why is why Volkswagen is releasing the ID.4 GTX with two motors and 220kW of power.

Now they’re talking 480km of range from its 77kWh lithium-ion battery, combined with a 100km/h sprint time of 6.2 seconds, all topped off by an 180km/h speed-limiter.

While the standard ID.4 models come with a single motor on the rear axle, the ID.4 GTX has one at each end of the car, delivering a combined 460Nm of torque.

Oddly, they’re not the same type of motor, with a 320Nm synchronous electric motor on the rear and a 162Nm asynchronous motor up front, bringing the GTX’s weight to a porky 2149kg.

Each of the electric motors drives its axle via a single-speed gearbox and provides torque vectoring, as in the standard ID.4.

The five-seat, five-door EV is rated to tow 1200kg, yet still delivers a 0-60km/h sprint in 3.2 seconds and its efficiency is rated by Volkswagen at between 18.1 and 19.1kWh per 100km.

While it recharges at up to 125kW, it is also capable of regenerating braking energy at up to 0.3G.

The bad news is that it’s not coming to Australia (where the standard ID.4 range isn’t due until at least 2023), and it won’t even go to the US.

Sadly, the Volkswagen ID.4 GTX is a Europe-only car for now, though its all-wheel drive powertrain will end up here at some point.

While the standard ID.4 will come with 45kWh, 58kWh and 24-cell 77kWh battery packs (the latter of which gives 500km of range), the ID.4 GTX will only be delivered with the largest of the batteries.

Volkswagen guarantees the battery pack will be good for a minimum of 70 per cent capacity after eight years or 160,000km.

If this is starting to sound familiar, it’s because anybody paying attention to the Great 2021 EV Boom will have seen this exact powertrain before.

It is the same set-up used in the Audi Q4 e-tron and the Skoda Enyaq, which could even beat the ID.4 to Australia.

And, like those two medium SUVs, it’s also based on the Volkswagen Group’s MEB (Modular Electric Matrix) platform, so there is no transmission tunnel interrupting the cabin floor.

The two-motor set-up and GTX name could be applied to other VW ID EVs in future, potentially including an ID.3 hot hatch.

The Volkswagen ID.4 GTX will cost €50,415 ($A78,500) in Germany, which will make it far from a cheap VW, but it will be stacked with most of the ID.4’s tricks.

The 4.59-metre EV rides on a 2.77m wheelbase and offers significant legroom advantages over its ID.3 hatch sibling.

Potentially paving the way for a cheaper version with less high-end equipment, the GTX version will come with Matrix LED headlights as standard equipment, along with 3D LED tail-lights.

Eleven of the 18 LEDs in each headlight can be switched off or dimmed to maintain night vision without blinding oncoming traffic.

While the driver mainly uses a 5.3-inch digital instrument cluster, the interior is dominated by a 10-inch (or optional 12-inch) touch-screen media display.

The ID.4 GTX also comes with a permanent online connection and 543 litres of luggage space behind the rear seats, with a sizeable total capacity of 1575 litres.

It earns further environmental praise by using recycled PET bottles for some of the animal-free seat materials, but blots its green copybook with a heated leather steering wheel.

The Volkswagen ID.4 GTX has 170mm of ground clearance, partly thanks to its standard 20-inch wheels (21-inch versions are optional), though an optional sports pack lowers that by 15mm.

The GTX will also be available with adaptive damping as an option, along with an augmented-reality head-up display, and there are five driving modes ranging from long range to comfort and sport.

The ID.4 is Volkswagen’s second ID model and part of its €45 billion spend on electromobility development in the next five years. Volkswagen says EVs will account for 70 per cent of its total automotive capacity by 2030.

While entry-level ID.1 and ID.2 city-EVs are expected too, the ID.3 and ID.4 will be followed by the ID.5 coupe-crossover, the ID.6 seven-seat SUV, both a luxury sedan and wagon based on the Vizzion concepts and, in 2025, a Kombi-channeling EV people-mover previewed by the cool ID Buzz concept.

The Volkswagen ID.4 will also be built in Chattanooga in the US and Anting in China, but the ID.4 GTX will only be made at the Zwickau plant in Germany.