Volkswagen previews its ID.7 electric saloon with a range of 435 miles

Volkswagen has given a first glimpse of its forthcoming family electric sedan – the ID.7 – which will compete against Tesla’s Model 3 when it goes on sale later this year.

Revealed in prototype form – and heavily camouflaged – at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the German auto giant says the ID.7 is aiming for a range of 700 miles.

That sort of driving distance on a single charge is 61 more than the Tesla Model 3 Long Range can travel on a fully charged battery, as VW is targeting Elon Musk’s car brand.

Presenting the car in the US this week, Thomas Schäfer, CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars, said: “With the new ID.7 we are expanding our range of electric models into the higher segments.

The sedan will offer top-class technology and quality. The ID.7 is one of ten new electric models we plan to launch in 2026. Our goal? Supplying suitable products for our customers in every segment.’

It is planned to be sold in both saloon and estate form, with the model fully unveiled in the second quarter of the year and order books for UK customers likely to open by the end of 2023.

The ID.7 will be the manufacturer’s sixth all-electric ‘ID’ car and will be based on the proven MEB platform that underpins the five previous models.

The production-ready model should have the same dimensions as this prototype vehicle, measuring 4,940mm long, 1,859mm wide and 1,529mm high.

Its wheelbase of 2,969mm is the same as the recently launched ID Buzz MPV and is longer than the two combustion engine families VW currently offers – the Arteon and Passat.

While the vehicle has been unveiled to showgoers in Las Vegas, Volkswagen has remained tight-lipped on most of the technical details.

However, it has confirmed that it is targeting a full-charge range of up to 435 miles.

As with its other ID models, it will be sold with a variety of battery sizes – and the 435-mile claim will likely be for the largest of these, which is currently a 77kWh pack.

It is expected to be sold with the option of two- or four-wheel drive, and “hot” GTX versions should also be launched.

Its biggest rival will be the Tesla Model 3, currently the UK’s best-selling electric sedan.

Prices for the Tesla start from £48,490 for the rear-wheel drive option, which offers a range of 305 miles. The furthest distance from a full charge is achieved in the Model 3 Long Range – 374 miles – and costs £57,490.

With the VW expecting that potential at 61 miles, Elon Musk would likely see it cut sales of its most affordable electric vehicle.

The Hyundai Ioniq 6, BMW i4, Mercedes EQE and Polestar 2 are just some of the other competitors the VW will be up against.

Production for the European market takes place alongside the ID.4 SUV at the company’s Emden plant in Germany.

The prototype unveiled in the US shows that the car has a slim silhouette, as the ID.Aero concept showed last summer.

It had a drag coefficient of 0.23, which is expected to be the case for the full production version. In layman’s terms, this means it will slip through the air with ease, which should help improve range.

Details of the car’s exterior are hidden by a busy camouflage, a special QR code-inspired feature that VW calls ‘Electroluminescent’ and consists of 40 coats of paint.

When an electric current is passed through it, 22 separate parts of the car can light up independently to turn the vehicle into an interactive canvas. For what reason, we’re not so sure.

A clever feature used in the prototype that will make it to the showroom car are the ‘Smart Air Vents’.

These can detect when the owner – holding the key – approaches the car on a hot day and automatically turn on the air conditioning to cool the interior. On particularly cold days, it will be able to do the same with the heating, heated seats and heated steering wheel.

It also gets an augmented reality head-up display as standard across the range, and the 15-inch touchscreen system has been improved based on customer feedback, meaning drivers can access the temperature controls directly from the home screen rather than having to them to navigate submenus.

While order books are expected to open before the end of 2023, there is no indication yet on pricing.