{"id":226299,"date":"2022-06-09T08:28:24","date_gmt":"2022-06-09T12:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=226299"},"modified":"2022-06-09T10:43:26","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T14:43:26","slug":"vw-will-take-direct-aim-at-tesla-model-3-with-id-4-sedan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2022\/06\/vw-will-take-direct-aim-at-tesla-model-3-with-id-4-sedan\/","title":{"rendered":"VW Will Take Direct Aim at Tesla Model 3 with ID.4 Sedan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Volkswagen has done nothing to hide its goal of becoming the world\u2019s largest manufacturer of battery-electric vehicles, and it\u2019s radically redesigning its product development process in a bid to take down the current EV market leader, Tesla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"VW's
VW’s looking to catch and pass Tesla as the global EV leader. It’s developing a new ID.4 sedan that should arrive in 2026.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The new process will take time to bring to market, with a new sedan version of the Volkswagen ID.4 expected to be the first tangible result. Known internally under the codename \u201cProject Trinity,\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/strong> the three-box version of the ID.4 is not set to reach market until 2026, according to a report by Wards Auto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re reducing development time by 25 percent,\u201d Thomas Ulbrich, Volkswagen\u2019s head of R&D, told the publication. \u201cFuture projects will be completed in 40 months from the point at which the basic software architecture is in place, instead of the 54 months we have today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first offering<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The automaker offered a hint of what\u2019s to come with teaser images of the upcoming ID.4 sedan. It indicated the battery-electric vehicle will deliver as much as 700 kilometers, or 435 miles, of range. That\u2019s based on the European WLTP system \u2014 but even using EPA numbers it should translate into a 20% improvement over the range of the best of VW\u2019s current BEV line-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"VW
Volkswagen is investing $7.1 billion during the next five years to facilitate EV development and production in North America.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

At about 181 inches in length, it would be sized close to the current Tesla Model 3 sedan, though it\u2019s far from clear what that competitive offering might look like in 2026. For its part, Tesla is working on new battery technology expected to enhance range while lowering costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ID.4 sedan is expected to go into production in 2026 at an all-new, $2.2 billion plant<\/a><\/span><\/strong> located near the automaker\u2019s headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Volkswagen Group says it will have as many as 50 all-electric models coming by mid-decade and its various brands already have begun rolling out products such as the Audi e-tron GT, the Porsche Taycan and the VW ID.4 crossover, including the newly debuted ID.4 all-wheel drive model. Several brands have laid out aggressive timetables for going all-electric, ultra-luxury marque Bentley expecting to get there by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Committed to EVs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All told, the German automaker expects to invest more than $100 billion in electric vehicle development by then and clearly wants to get the most for its money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Herbert
VW CEO Herbert Diess has thrown his support behind the new accelerated development process.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Virtually all of the vehicles now under development will use a small number of common platforms, primarily the MEB architecture targeting mainstream audiences. That offers a number of potential advantages, including economies of scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But VW\u2019s vehicle development process is far less efficient. Individual products may share those common platforms but development teams seldom collaborate and may not even know what each other is working on. In effect, each has to develop the wheel from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ulbrich wants the process to be more collaborative. And VW is turning to a mix of new hardware and software to allow that to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the hardware side, the MEB, or Modularen Elektrik Baukasten, platform will make way for a new architecture dubbed the SSP, short for Scalable Systems Platform. That\u2019s not entirely a surprise. Despite VW\u2019s high hopes for the MEB, it has proven to be less flexible \u2014 and more expensive than originally promised. And that has required various brands \u2014 notably Porsche and Audi to develop more upscale platforms of their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe next generation of our hardware platforms will allow us to reduce complexity over time as we will consolidate our existing platform to one architecture for the entire e-product portfolio, from entry-level to top-of-the-range, from 85 to 850kW,\u201d Diess said, according to Wards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the new line of software, most of it will be designed in-house. And it will target a variety of different areas. Up front, VW is counting on new software and software-enhanced processes to make it easier for product development teams to work together, even when operating on opposite sides of the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"VW's<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

New software also will used inside VW vehicles. It will operate everything from powertrain controls to infotainment systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big supporter for new process<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The new approach has a high-level cheerleader, noted Wards, in the form of Group CEO Herbert Diess. The prime proponent of the switch to electric propulsion, he has called for a \u201ccomplete rethink\u201d of the automaker\u2019s entire business model, from product development to sales and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diess is by no means the only auto industry leader betting on the switch to electric propulsion. General Motors CEO Mary Barra wants to eliminate internal combustion engines entirely by 2035. Manufacturers as diverse as Volvo and Honda have laid out similar aspirations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the first to market with a long-range BEV, Tesla remains the global leader in all-electric vehicles<\/a><\/span><\/strong>. But, even as it ramps up production with new factories in Berlin and Austin, Texas, it faces an increasingly challenging environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VW is betting it can catch up in the next half decade. Diess now wants BEVs to account for 20% of its global sales by 2025, up from 6% last year. If its sales were only to hold steady at pre-pandemic \u2014 and pre-semiconductor shortage \u2014 levels, that would translate into at least 2 million BEVs annually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Volkswagen has done nothing to hide its goal of becoming the world\u2019s largest manufacturer of battery-electric vehicles, and it\u2019s radically redesigning its product development process in a bid to take down the current EV market leader, Tesla. Find out more at TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7,8,5,1608,1164,2648,9],"tags":[1725,507,5177,4333,6421],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226299"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226299"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226311,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226299\/revisions\/226311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226299"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=226299"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=226299"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=226299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}