The production version of the Volkswagen ID Vizzion concept, first revealed in 2018, will be unveiled at the Beijing Motor Show in April. The first deliveries of the model will begin in 2023, and China will be a priority.
Brandstatter confirmed the model’s arrival, alongside a sketch, at VW’s annual press conference. The rakish car will essentially serve as the electric equivalent to the combustion-engined Passat, giving Volkswagen a sorely needed rival to electric executive market leaders such as the Tesla Model 3 and Polestar 2.
The vehicle will be available first in saloon form before an estate-bodied version, based on the ID Space Vizzion concept, arrives. Although the exterior dimensions will largely match the combustion-engined Passat’s, the interior is expected to offer space on par with the Phaeton flagship, which bowed out in 2016.
Though a name has not yet been confirmed, it is being developed under the codename Aero-B.
The new ID model will use Volkswagen’s full-sized MEB architecture and follow the ID.4 in being offered with a choice of rear- or four-wheel-drive powertrains. A GTX performance model will follow later.
In 2020, then head of R&D Frank Welsch told Autocar UK that the GTX version will be capable of 0-100kph in around 5.6sec.
Equipped with the largest battery available — thought to be 84kWh in capacity — the ID saloon should manage 431 miles per charge, slightly more than the longest-range version of Mercedes-Benz’s new EQE. Smaller batteries taken from other ID models, ranging from 58kWh to 77kWh, will no doubt be available.
