Despite its long history as a car manufacturer, Volkswagen claims it has only really had two chapters so far. The first was when it introduced the original Beetle, the second came with the launch and subsequent generations of the Golf.
The fact that the German brand’s new electric car will be called the ID.3, then, is hugely significant. That ‘3’ essentially stands for ‘third chapter.’
We’ve known that VW’s first purpose-built electric car was coming since the ID. The concept was unveiled back in 2016 at the Paris Motor Show. We also knew that it would be a hatchback sitting on the brand-new MEB platform, which would then also be used to roll out production versions of the ID Crozz, ID Buzz, ID Vizzion, and ID Roomzz concepts. Thankfully for Z buttons on keyboards across the land, these will mirror the ID.3 by using model numbers rather than names.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though—the ID.3 will start shipping to customers in mid-2020, when 30,000 customers will take ownership of their special-edition ID.3 1st cars. Like any launch edition model, these will be loaded with options and gadgets, but they’ll only feature the mid-spec battery, which manages just over 420km of range on the WLTP cycle. VW says this first edition will cost less than €40,000 (around P2,330,000).
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
