VW plots new £22k 'electric Polo'

Concept points to supermini EV; Expected to go on sale in 2025

- John Mcllroy

WE'VE been waiting for a couple of years to see how Volkswagen plans to make electric motoring more affordable and after one false start with the ID. Life concept, here's the firm's proposed solution: the ID. 2all, a supermini that will be a rival for the likes of Vauxhall's Corsa-e and the Peugeot e-208 when it goes on sale in 2025.

The ID. 2all is VW's first take on MEB Entry, a project announced in 2019 to deliver EVs costing less than 20,000 Euros. That price has now risen up to "less than 25,000 Euros", but it's hoped that the car could cost from just under £22,000 in the UK.

The MEB Entry project is an offshoot from the MEB platform that delivered the likes of the VW ID.3 and Skoda's Enyaq - but it has been designed from the outset to support smaller, cheaper vehicles. As such, it switches from rear to front-wheel drive and makes use of a less complex rear end (without any need to package an electric motor) to boost practicality and adopt a cheaper torsion-beam suspension layout.

The new concept is said to have been created in less than two months, under the guidance of VW's latest design boss, Andreas Mindt, who only joined the brand on 1 February. The former Audi and Bentley man has created a much cleaner, simpler-looking vehicle than the futuristic, more visionary ID. Life, which was canned by VW's current brand boss Thomas Schäfer within days of him starting in the position.

Mindt describes the new concept as "a homage to the Beetle, Golf and Polo" that encompasses what VW calls its key values: stability and likeability. And sure enough, the ID. 2all looks pretty detached from any of the ID. models that we've already seen. It's 4,050mm long and has a wheelbase of 2,600mm - a couple of centimetres shorter than today's Polo, but with five centimetres more between the front and rear axles.