Tag Archives: Volkswagen

NEW CARS

The Volkswagen ID.3 Is Getting a Do-Over—and This Time VW Means It

Volkswagen is preparing to give the ID.3 something it’s arguably needed since day one: a proper rethink. The Golf-sized electric hatchback is due for a substantial refresh later this year, bringing with it a redesigned exterior, a reworked interior, and meaningful upgrades to tech and hardware. We first caught wind of the changes last year, but fresh late-stage spy photos now offer a clearer look at how serious VW is about fixing its early EV missteps.

When it lands, the updated ID.3 will be thrust back into the thick of the C-segment EV fight, squaring up against rivals like the Cupra Born, Skoda Elroq, Renault Megane E-Tech, Kia EV3, and the upcoming Hyundai Ioniq 3. Pricing hasn’t been confirmed, but expect it to hover around today’s entry point—roughly £30,860—keeping the ID.3 squarely in the mainstream electric conversation.

A Sharper Face for VW’s Electric Hatch

Volkswagen isn’t throwing away the ID.3’s basic proportions, but it is giving the car a much-needed facial adjustment. The most noticeable changes are concentrated at the front and rear, where revised lighting, reshaped bumpers, and new wheel designs aim to make the ID.3 look less like a design experiment and more like a proper Volkswagen.

The headlights now appear to sit lower and stretch visually toward the VW badge via a larger central graphic. There’s a strong chance this panel will be illuminated, and it may also conceal the brand’s latest matrix-beam LED tech. Below that, the front bumper gets more sculpting, larger outer vents to help airflow, and a small central opening—subtle on paper, but far more assertive than the barely perceptible 2024 update.

The goal is clear: pull the ID.3 back toward the brand’s new design language, previewed by the ID.2all concept. Expect cleaner lines, more confidence, and a more traditional two-box hatchback shape in place of the current car’s near-monovolume silhouette.

Inside, Buttons Are Back (Yes, Really)

If the exterior tweaks are evolutionary, the cabin changes promise to be closer to revolutionary—at least by VW standards. The ID.3’s minimalist, touch-heavy interior was widely criticized for sacrificing usability in the name of futurism, and Volkswagen seems ready to admit that experiment didn’t quite land.

The updated car will introduce a redesigned dashboard and interfaces, including the return of physical buttons, much like those previewed in the ID.2all. Expect higher-quality materials as well, with more texture and soft-touch surfaces intended to elevate the ID.3 beyond its current, slightly austere feel.

VW’s development boss Kai Grünitz has been blunt about the direction change:

“We will bring a re-skin for the ID.3, with a completely new design language going back to where we originally came from, and return to what Volkswagen is known for.”

Better Batteries, Better Value

The improvements don’t stop at the surface. Volkswagen is also targeting meaningful gains under the skin, particularly when it comes to battery performance and cost efficiency.

According to Grünitz, the company has made progress on battery costs, performance, and driver-assistance features—changes that should benefit both VW’s bottom line and the customer experience. In current form, the ID.3 is offered with battery packs ranging from 52 kWh to 79 kWh, the latter delivering a claimed 369 miles of range in GTX trim. Expect that figure to improve slightly as new battery tech filters in.

Crucially, the ID.3 will retain the core strengths of the MEB platform, including rear-wheel drive and a multi-link rear suspension. Front-drive layouts and simpler hardware will remain reserved for smaller, entry-level EVs.

GTI, GTX, and the Question of Electric Fun

One of the bigger unanswered questions surrounds performance variants. Volkswagen has softened its stance on what qualifies for a GTI badge in the electric era, suggesting it’s open to the idea—as long as the car feels right.

“Bringing performance to battery-electric vehicles is easy,” Grünitz said. “But creating fun-driving vehicles is much more difficult.”

That philosophy hints at more than just raw power figures. VW is reportedly exploring ideas such as simulated gear changes—similar to what Hyundai has done with the Ioniq 5 N—to inject character and driver engagement into future GTX and GTI models.

“We have a lot of ideas about what to do with this,” Grünitz added. “You will see this, both for GTI and GTX.”

The ID.3, Rewritten

Taken together, the changes suggest Volkswagen is treating the ID.3 refresh as more than a mid-cycle facelift. This is a course correction—one that acknowledges where the brand overreached and attempts to bring its electric hatchback back in line with the values that made cars like the Golf enduring benchmarks.

If VW delivers on its promises, the updated ID.3 could finally feel less like a concept car that escaped into production—and more like the electric Volkswagen it should have been from the start.

Source: AutoExpress

NEW CARS

VW ID. Era 9X Is a Massive Range-Extended EV

Volkswagen has finally plugged the last hole in its electrification strategy, and—surprise—it smells faintly of gasoline. Meet the ID. Era 9X, VW’s first production electric vehicle with a range-extending internal-combustion engine. It comes to us from China via the VW–SAIC joint venture and turns last year’s ID. Era concept into something you can actually register, insure, and wedge into a mall parking garage—assuming you can find a big enough space.

At a glance, the ID. Era 9X looks like it’s been browsing Range Rover’s Pinterest board. The proportions are upright and stately, the surfacing clean, and the overall presence unapologetically massive. This isn’t just a new model; it’s the opening act for a China-specific VW design language, one clearly tuned to local tastes for size, prestige, and back-seat legroom. Lots of back-seat legroom.

Just how big is it? Try this on for scale: the ID. Era 9X stretches 205 inches from nose to tail, making it longer than most Volkswagen Group SUVs and even edging into full-fat luxury territory. It’s wider than a Chevy Tahoe, taller than a Toyota Land Cruiser, and rides on a 120.8-inch wheelbase that would make an S-Class blush. Among VW-group products, only the long-wheelbase Bentley Bentayga clearly outgrows it, and even that advantage may not last once Audi unleashes its rumored Q9.

All that sheet metal doesn’t come cheap in terms of mass. Chinese regulatory filings show the ID. Era 9X tipping the scales at up to 5,952 pounds. That’s roughly the weight of a small moon—or, more relevantly, a three-row SUV packed with tech, batteries, and the expectations of a market that equates size with success.

But the Era 9X’s most interesting feature isn’t its curb weight or its resemblance to something parked outside a luxury ski lodge. It’s the powertrain. Instead of committing fully to battery-only life, Volkswagen has gone with a range-extended EV setup. Under the hood sits a turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine, but it never drives the wheels. Its sole job is to act as a generator, keeping the battery fed and range anxiety firmly at bay.

The engine itself is more interesting than you might expect. It’s part of VW’s EA211 family, runs on the Miller cycle for efficiency, and uses a variable-geometry turbocharger—tech borrowed straight from Porsche’s playbook. Output is 141 horsepower, which sounds modest until you remember it’s not there to hustle the SUV, just to keep the electrons flowing.

Actual propulsion comes from electric motors. The base setup uses a single rear-mounted motor producing 295 horsepower. Step up to the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive configuration and total output jumps to a healthy 510 horsepower—enough to move nearly three tons of SUV with convincing urgency. Battery options include a 51.1-kWh pack for the single-motor version, while a larger 65.2-kWh battery is optional there and standard with the dual-motor setup.

Volkswagen claims more than 249 miles of electric range on China’s optimistic CLTC cycle with the larger battery. The company hasn’t published a total combined range figure, but given the presence of a gasoline generator, don’t be surprised if it clears the 600-mile mark, depending on fuel-tank size. In other words, this thing is designed to go very far, very comfortably, without forcing its owner to memorize the location of every DC fast charger between Shanghai and Shenzhen.

For now, the ID. Era 9X is a China-only affair, tailored precisely to a market that has embraced range-extended EVs faster than the West. Still, the concept is clearly on Volkswagen’s mind elsewhere. Bloomberg reports that VW is evaluating similar setups for Europe and the United States, where consumer hesitation around charging infrastructure hasn’t magically disappeared.

And the timing isn’t accidental. VW’s newly revived Scout brand is already preparing to launch the Terra pickup and Traveler SUV with—wait for it—gasoline-powered range extenders. Those body-on-frame models promise around 500 miles of total range, including roughly 150 miles of electric-only driving, proving that Wolfsburg is hedging its bets rather than going all-in on batteries just yet.

The ID. Era 9X may never make it to U.S. shores, but it sends a clear message anyway: Volkswagen is done pretending the road to electrification is one-size-fits-all. In markets where charging is inconvenient and expectations are high, the future—at least for now—comes with a plug, a battery, and a little four-cylinder safety net humming quietly in the background.

Source: Volkswagen

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The Golf GTI Edition 50 Costs More Than a Golf R

If there was ever a moment for Volkswagen to flex its hot-hatch muscles, the GTI’s 50th birthday was it. And flex it has. The new Golf GTI Edition 50 arrives as the most powerful, most track-capable, and—perhaps inevitably—the most expensive GTI ever sold, carrying a UK price of £47,995. That’s more than a Golf R, which feels a little like paying filet-mignon money for front-wheel drive. But context, as always, is everything.

VW calls this the most “dynamically adept” GTI in the badge’s half-century history, and for once the marketing department seems to be backed up by actual engineering effort. This isn’t just a sticker-and-wheel special. It’s a full-send interpretation of what a modern GTI can be when accountants briefly look the other way.

Power comes from a heavily revised version of the familiar turbocharged 2.0-liter EA888 four-cylinder. Output jumps to 321 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque—up a massive 60 horses over the standard GTI and still a healthy step above the already unhinged GTI Clubsport. Only the all-wheel-drive Golf R 20 Years edges it on power, with 328 hp, but torque is a dead heat.

Straight-line gains are modest but meaningful. Zero to 62 mph drops to 5.5 seconds, and the run to 124 mph now takes 16.9 seconds. That nudges the Edition 50 into Honda Civic Type R territory, which is not a neighborhood GTIs usually walk into uninvited. Top speed remains capped at 168 mph, because this is still Volkswagen, not Lamborghini.

But the real story lives underneath. VW’s chassis engineers were clear that this car isn’t about headline numbers. The suspension is a comprehensively reworked version of the Mk8.5 GTI setup, riding 20 mm lower than stock and even 5 mm lower than the Clubsport. Spring and damper rates are revised, and front negative camber is cranked up to a serious-looking −2.0 degrees, courtesy of stiffer mounts, revised wheel carriers, and uprated control-arm bushings.

Out back, the Edition 50 revives a twin-attachment track rod—a nod to the beloved Mk7 GTI—and pairs it with new wheel-carrier geometry to improve lateral stiffness and toe stability under hard loading. Steering, adaptive dampers, and the vehicle dynamics software have all been recalibrated to match the more aggressive hardware.

Then there are the tires. VW fits bespoke 235/35 R19 Bridgestone Potenza Race semi-slicks, wrapped around forged 19-inch Warmenau wheels. This combo alone drops more than 2 kg of unsprung mass per corner compared with the Clubsport, which is the kind of change you feel in your hands, not just on a spec sheet. Add the optional Akrapovic titanium exhaust, and you shave off another 11 kg while making the car sound like it means business.

Grip is higher in both dry and wet conditions, sidewalls are stiffer, and consistency over a hard lap is improved—important details for a car that just set a 7:46.13 lap around the Nürburgring Nordschleife. That’s faster than any production Volkswagen before it, including the all-wheel-drive Golf R 20 Years. Front-wheel drive, meet mic drop.

Visually, the Edition 50 doesn’t shout. It largely mirrors the GTI Clubsport, with subtle cues like black door graphics, red wheels, a small “50” decal on the rear spoiler, and black tailpipes. It’s understated enough that only the initiated will know they’re looking at the sharpest GTI ever built.

Is £47,995 a lot for a Golf? Absolutely. But the Edition 50 isn’t trying to be the sensible choice. It’s a celebration car, engineered with intent and sharpened to a degree no GTI has ever been before. For buyers who believe front-wheel drive can still be thrilling—and who care more about Nürburgring lap times than driven axles—this might just be the ultimate expression of the GTI idea.

Source: Volkswagen