Volkswagen sticking by its €25,000 pledge as industry gears up for cheaper EVs

Volkswagen's ID2all concept looks ahead to a Polo-sized BEV that targets an entry price of around €25,000

Eddie Cunningham

I think I am correct in saying that one of the first things people say about battery electric cars (BEVs) is that they are too expensive.

They undoubtedly are, but with greater supply and variety, especially at the lower-budget end of the spectrum, prices should ease in the medium term.

That is especially the case when you hear the likes of Volkswagen say they are fairly confident of being able to deliver a BEV costing from €25,000 within a few years.

I think there was a lot of cynicism about the brand’s original forecast – as there is about pricing in general.

But recently a senior VW executive came out to reiterate their belief the promise can be met.

Read more

At a ‘Future of the Car’ summit, by the Financial Times, Volkswagen’s chief financial officer Arno Antlitz said the car giant was ‘quite confident’ of delivering on the €25,000-EV pledge.

You might remember back in March when Volkswagen showed us the ID2all concept (pictured).

It was a look ahead to a Polo-sized BEV that targets an entry price of around €25,000. That could be the game-changer. Helping to make it so is the fact that the car would have the first ‘in-house’ battery cells so they would have far more scale. The good news is that Skoda, part of the VW Group, will copy each model Volkswagen makes, in crossover form, and aim to hit the same critical price junctures.

Rivals are looking at speeding up lower-priced volume BEVs too. The critical thing is that they have to be profitable; hence the importance of scale.

There is still some distance to go but there is reasonable hope we’ll see more affordable BEVs sooner rather than later.

Read more