New Volkswagen ID.Every1 previews the affordable electric future of VW

• New electric city car concept with 155-mile range
• Small dimensions and chunky styling
• Price tag of around £17,000

After a handful of teaser images to get us excited, Volkswagen has unveiled the new ID.Every1, a bright yellow concept car with a bold mission: to bring affordable electric motoring to the masses.

That’s no small task. Even the cheapest electric Volkswagen today will set you back over £30,000, so this new city car is set to bring some big changes. The production version of the ID.Every1 – expected to be badged ID.1 – is projected to cost around £17,000, which is an undeniably ambitious target. Of course, with such a low price tag will come compromises, but the ID.1 could be just what Volkswagen needs to reignite EV sales in a time of uncertainty for the brand.

For now, the ID.Every1 remains a concept car, meaning it won’t be put into production exactly as shown here, but Volkswagen claims that the final product will be very similar when it arrives in 2027. It won’t have the market to itself, though – Dacia and Leapmotor are already sweeping up the sub-£16k electric car market, while Renault has been working on its new Twingo for some time now.

What does the Volkswagen ID.Every1 look like?

Interesting design has been a staple of Volkswagen’s entry-level models throughout its history, from the original Beetle to the Lupo and, more recently, the up!. The ID.2all concept from 2023 set the tone for the brand’s future affordable models, and the ID.Every1 follows a similar path, with chunky and cheeky styling which is said to combine “bold confidence” with “timeless simplicity”.

There are still some concept car flourishes here as expected, including big wheels, a low roofline and a wide stance, but the essence of the design looks to be nearly production-ready. There’s a black visor-like panel that stretches across the front and surrounds the headlights in a similar way to the classic Mk1 Golf's grille, along with a pair of vertical daytime-running lights.

The windscreen appears to wrap around the front of the car, giving a floating roof effect, while the rear echoes the ID.3 and old Up with its black-painted tailgate. The shape of the tail-lights mirrors that of the headlights, sitting proud of the bodywork.

It’s worth noting that the move away from petrol power has meant that the ID.Every1 has grown over its predecessors. Squeezing a battery pack between the front and rear wheels has stretched it to 3,880mm long – still small, but around 280mm longer than the old Up.

The interior of the ID.Every1 follows an equally simple philosophy. This is an area where Volkswagen will have to show some serious restraint to hit that £17,000 price tag, so it’s hardly a surprise that things look a little basic.

The dashboard consists of a horizontal shelf with a small screen for the driver and a large central infotainment display. There are some physical controls, though, which represents a move away from the capacitive touch buttons in VW’s other ID cars. The material choices provide a bit of visual interest, with yellow highlights to match the exterior paintwork – a bit like the old up!. Whether that will make it to the production ID.1 remains to be seen.

What else do we know about the Volkswagen ID.Every1?

Volkswagen has revealed a few technical details about the ID.Every1 which give us an idea about the production car’s positioning against rivals. It will ride on the brand’s MEB electric car platform, which has been designed for affordable urban vehicles and offers “revolutionary space utilisation and maximum efficiency”, although its battery size is still a mystery.

Like most city cars, the ID.Every1 is front-wheel drive, using a 94bhp motor. More important to most customers will be its range, which Volkswagen quotes at 155 miles. It’s unclear whether these figures will also apply to the production car, but the ID.Every1 appears to lag behind the upcoming Renault Twingo on paper – the French marque is reportedly aiming for around 170 miles of range.

The challenge will be to build the new model profitably. Several carmakers have pulled their smallest, cheapest models from sale in recent years, as tightening emissions and safety regulations eat into profit margins.

Thomas Schäfer, CEO of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand, says the new model will be “an affordable, high-quality, and profitable electric Volkswagen from Europe for Europe”, suggesting VW has solved the profitability dilemma.

One way of doing this is that the ID.1 may share its structure and mechanical components with equivalents from Cupra and Skoda, just as the old VW Up had SEAT and Skoda siblings, while an even simpler cabin design than the ID.2all should keep costs down there, too.

With Schäfer confirming that the next-generation electric Golf and T-Roc will both be built in a refitted Wolfsburg facility, it’s likely the small car will be produced elsewhere to minimise labour and energy costs during production. It’s a key reason why the Dacia Spring and Leapmotor T03 are both built in China, while the new Twingo will be assembled in Slovenia.

VW has previously suggested its smallest model would be built in Spain, along with a large battery factory.

Volkswagen ID.Every1 images and sketches

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