Volkswagen ready to launch ID.3, Cupra reveals Tavascan SUV
MEB – get used to it, you are going to hear it a lot from now on. It stands for modular electric drive matrix and the Volkswagen Group is confident it is its multi-billion euro ticket into the electric-car big time.
Two battery-powered cars using this bespoke new architecture, with its battery packs under the floor, are now being charged up ready for an unveiling at the Frankfurt Motor Show on 10th September. They are just two cars from what is expected to be a raft of new electric models destined to make the show the biggest and most important battery-fest yet.
Volkswagen ID.3
The loudest fanfare is expected for the production-ready version of VW’s new electric champion, the ID.3. This is the German giant’s take on what a purely battery-powered Golf-class car should be like, an electric car “for everyone” in its words, with an entry price promised to start under €30,000 (currently £27,200). At launch, a fully loaded 1st Edition model is likely to cost substantially more than that.
The ID.3, like the rest of VW’s coming new family of electric ID models, is underpinned by the MEB platform and as a result, says VW, comes without some traditional compromises.
The batteries-under-the-floor layout maximises interior space while a choice between three battery sizes (45, 58 and 77 kWh) means buyers can choose the amount of electric-car range they need. The top 77 kWh battery offers a range of up to 342 miles, with a battery top-up sufficient for 180 miles taking 30 minutes – at a high power 100 kW charging point that is. VW says it will be guaranteeing the capacity of the batteries for eight years or 100,000 miles.
Today’s teaser pic of a car still wearing its colourful disguise shows a mainstream looking compact family hatch with smooth nose, signature VW headlights, raked back screen and thin pillars. It is rear-wheel-drive and its electric motor is rated at 204PS (201bhp), so mid-way between what a petrol Golf GTI and a diesel Golf GTD offers. Both those cars can crack 0-62mph in around six and a half seconds, which might give a guide to the ID.3’s performance – in the unlikely event that it can match or better their sub 1.4 tonne kerb weights, that is.
For VW, the five-door in VW’s ID-badged electric car family is not just a new model but represents a “realignment of the brand”, the company’s third watershed moment after the Beetle and the Golf. Also on show in Frankfurt will be other ID concepts which VW is promising will follow in “rapid succession” after the ID.3’s market launch. That is due mid 2020 after production cranks up from later this year.
Cupra Tavascan
Seat’s sporty offshoot takes its reinvention as standalone performance brand a stage further at Frankfurt this year with the unveiling of its first purely battery car, the Tavascan concept. Like the VW ID.3, we have the versatile new MEB platform to thank for this.
Tavascan previews a large SUV with an emphasis on sporty, coupe-like styling. With a “liquid metal” stealth look to its finish, unadorned detailing but strong feature lines, it doesn’t lack for presence on its turbine-design, 22-inch alloy wheels. At the rear there’s a full width rear light bar, like the Porsche Taycan and rapidly becoming de rigueur now for electric cars, along with illuminated logos.
Cupra confirms that the Tavascan is all-wheel-drive, has electric motors front and back with a total of 306PS (302bhp) for 0-62mph in less than 6.5 seconds. Like the top ID.3, the battery is a 77 kWh job which offers a range of up to 280 miles. The batteries under the floor have the benefit of lowering the centre of gravity for superior agility. Cupra know a bit about that from developing the world’s first electric touring car, the Cupra e-Racer.
Tavascan – it’s the name of a village in the Pyrenees – is unlikely to be joining the Cupra range imminently. First up there’s the Cupra Formentor plug-in hybrid SUV, the first stand-alone Cupra model and due for launch in 2020.
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