Launched at this year’s Shanghai Auto show, the seven-seater is the third Volkswagen ID car to date

Shanghai, China

The ID.6 is the third member of, and largest of Volkswagen’s all-electric ID. family to date. At around 4.8-metres in length, it’s as big as a Volkswagen Touareg large SUV, and unlike its petrol brother, will have room for seven people in three rows.

Like the compact ID.3 and the ID.4, the ID.6 is also based on the VW Group’s versatile Modular Electric Drive Kit (MEB) platform, which also underpins the electric cars from Audi.

The car fuels three major automotive trends happening in China, as well as in many other major markets, at the moment. It’s an electric vehicle, it has a SUV body style, and it seats seven people in comfort.

If you haven’t been paying attention to what’s been happening in the Chinese consumer segment over the last decade. It’s time to take notice. The once-shoddy car industry there has grown into a giant so big that all the continental carmakers are considering it the next really big thing. It’s so important that Volkswagen has launched a new electric vehicle built specifically only for China.

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The ID.6 boasts three different variants at launch including a base model, an ID.6 Crozz and an ID.6 X. All are seven-seaters and will have a range of power options. Volkswagen claims that the car has a range of 588km and the most powerful 4Motion version will have 300hp on tap and a top speed of 160km/h with a 0-100km/h time of 6.6 seconds.

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The 4.88-metre ID.6 has three rows of seats, with a second row that can be adjusted longitudinally. In what seems to have become an unstoppable but questionable trend, the  dashboard has no tactile buttons and switches. The operating concept uses a 12-inch display with a touchscreen – and the “Hello ID.” voice control. 

An augmented reality head-up display is available as an optional extra, which merges some notifications with reality – for example, turn arrows from the navigation system are projected onto the correct lane on the road, similar to what’s happening with the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class. 

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There are big plans for the brand’s electrification drive in China. “With the new ID.6, we are laying the foundations for at least 50 percent of our cars sold in China being electric by 2030,” noted Ralf Brandstätter, CEO of the Volkswagen brand. 

“By 2023, Volkswagen will have a total of eight ID. models in China, making MEB nationwide there. The economies of scale that we have achieved allow us to offer the latest technology at an affordable price – and thus further expand our electric offensive.”

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The car will be produced in Anting and Foshang in China. The brand has announced a target of at least 70 percent of cars sold in Europe being electric by 2030; and at least 50 percent in North America and China.

Volkswagen Singapore has not confirmed whether or not any of the brand’s ID. electric cars will be sold here eventually. It;s likely that even if the first-gen ID. cars don’t get sent this way, competition from other brands will force the import of future models for the brand to stay competitive here. 

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