US meeting of ID.4 brings VW nearer to “EV for hundreds of thousands” mantra

Volkswagen on Tuesday confirmed that manufacturing of customer-bound ID.4 fashions has began at its Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant. 

The event marks the primary electrical mannequin the automaker has produced within the U.S.

Volkswagen says that 190,000 models of the ID.4 electrical crossover SUV have been delivered globally, however solely a small fraction of that has been to the U.S. Up to now, not less than by gross sales numbers, it’s a distinct segment mannequin at lower than 5,000 U.S. deliveries to date this 12 months. 

The Chattanooga plant is because of produce 7,000 ID.4s a month by later this 12 months, bringing scaled-up manufacturing, and numbers which might be extra in step with VW’s much-touted mission of constructing electrical automobiles “for hundreds of thousands, not simply millionaires,” and positioning it in opposition to fashions that promote within the tons of of hundreds yearly, just like the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V.

VW says that Chattanooga is the sixth world website to be producing Volkswagen electrical autos. Goalposts have hardly been occurring at warp pace, nonetheless. Volkswagen broke floor on the plant expansion in 2019, and the plant began making validation builds final August.

Battery cells for the ID.4 will likely be provided by South Korea’s SK innovation—however from the U.S., and a mammoth Georgia plant advanced that additionally provides cells for the F-150 Lightning. The plant was on the heart of an Worldwide Commerce Fee (ITC) dispute over commerce secrets and techniques with rival South Korea supplier LG that got here to a head in 2021, simply because the Biden administration had been pushing towards extra U.S.-built EVs with a higher level of domestic content. U.S.-built ID.4 variations received’t look a lot if in any respect totally different than world variations, however they’ll include all types of U.S. supply-chain items, together with inside components from Indiana and South Carolina, metal from Alabama and Ohio, and supplies and elements from 11 states in all. 

VW says that originally the U.S.-built ID.4 will likely be made with rear- or all-wheel drive with the bigger 82-kwh battery pack, however a rear-wheel drive model with a 62-kwh battery pack will likely be made there beginning later within the 12 months. 

The automaker had beforehand recommended that the beginning value could be about $36,000, however the carmaker made no additional affirmation on the pricing with immediately’s announcement—that’s nonetheless but to return.