ID.4

Make
Volkswagen
Segment
SUV

Audi confirmed last week it is finished with the internal combustion engine. Although it'll continue to update its existing stock, the four-ringed luxury and technology-focused brand will not begin the process of developing new C02-emitting engines. Battery electrics are its future. And now Volkswagen's CEO has confirmed it's following the same path. Volkswagen brand CEO Ralf Brandstatter told German-language Automobilwoche no new combustion engines, gasoline or diesel, are happening.

"At the moment I am not assuming that another completely new engine family will be launched," he said. And like Audi, VW will continue to improve its current combustion engine lineup because "We still need them for a certain amount of time and they have to be as efficient as possible."

Also - and this is crucial to point out - combustion-engined vehicles are still vital for VW because they're profitable. That money will be used to help transform VW into an EV-only and mobility-focused company. While the VW ID.4 is receiving plenty of attention as it arrives in dealerships across the country, there's still a very good possibility the next-generation Golf (and GTI) will stick with combustion and not go full-on battery-electric. A plug-in hybrid system paired to a turbocharged engine is highly likely.

VW's combustion engine phase-out won't happen overnight and its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, has not officially committed itself to an all-electric future like GM recently did. But Brandstatter is anxious to expand his brand's EV portfolio as quickly as possible.

Aside from the ID.4 and its corporate cousin, the overseas-only ID.3 hatchback, the ID range will continue to expand with the ID.5 crossover coupe and ID.6 three-row crossover, though both will not be sold in the US, at least initially. A production version of the ID.Buzz, a modern interpretation of the Type 2, will arrive for the 2023 model year. A production version of the ID.Vizzion concept is not expected before 2023.

At its recent "Power Day" event, VW Group CEO Herbert Diess confirmed the development of a new EV architecture called the Scalable Systems Platform (SSP). It'll eventually replace the company's existing EV platforms, MEB and PPE. The ID.4 utilizes the former and the first PPE-based model will debut next year.