Volkswagen announced on Thursday that production of the ID.4 compact SUV has begun at its factory in Zwickau, which has been rebuilt at a cost of € 1.2 billion (1.4 billion) to produce 300,000 electric cars a year. produce.
The ID.4 could help Volkswagen compete Tesla (TSLA), which already offers an electric SUV named Model Y. Audi, Volkswagen’s luxury brand, has been producing an electric SUV called the e-tron at a factory in Brussels, Belgium since late 2018.
Ralf Brandstätter, head of the Volkswagen brand, said in a statement that ID.4 offers the carmaker an electric car in “the world’s largest growth segment.” He said the SUV will initially be built and sold in Europe and China, with U.S. production scheduled to begin in 2022 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
According to Volkswagen (VLKAF), the SUV will have a maximum range of 500 kilometers (311 miles). It will make its September world premiere.
The German group, which also owns Porsche, Bugatti, Skoda, Lamborghini and SEAT, plans to spend € 20 billion ($ 39 billion) on electric mobility by 2033. It hopes to produce 1.5 million electric cars by 2025.
The ID.4 is the second car built on the company’s new modular electric car production platform, as MEB. The first, a small car named ID.3, is also produced at the plant in Zwickau.
“We are directly on track with the transformation process from the Volkswagen brand to e-mobility. The ID.3 is now being followed by the ID.4,” said Thomas Ulbrich, the executive overseeing e-mobility at Volkswagen .
Car factories around the world were forced to close earlier this year because the coronavirus pandemic took off. Volkswagen reopened its sprawling Wolfsburg plant in April and put others into production in the following months.
“Given the major societal challenges of recent months, the successful launch of the production of ID.4 series is an exceptional achievement,” said Ulbrich.
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