Volkswagen wants an electric ID. GTI hot hatch in the US at $25,000? Bring it on!
It looks like Volkswagen may bring the electric hot hatch to the US after all. Even better, Volkswagen wants to launch the electric ID. GTI with starting prices between $20,000 and $25,000.
Volkswagen wants a $25,000 electric ID. GTI in the US
After Rivian’s CEO RJ Scaringe shocked the industry by revealing its rally-inspired R3 electric crossover, Volkswagen looks to steal the spotlight. The EV is even smaller and cheaper than the Rivian R2, which starts at $45,000.
Volkswagen Group America CEO Pablo Di Si believes the German automaker can match it. Di Si sees the electric ID. GTI hot hatch, revealed as a concept by Volkswagen last September, can find a market in the US.
However, as Di Si explained, the hot hatch EV would need to be at the right price point, which he says is between $20,000 and $25,000.
“It would make sense if we hit the right price points,” Di Si said during VW’s annual media conference.
The ID. GTI is based on VW’s affordable ID. 2 electric car, revealed last March (also as a concept). Starting under $27,000 (25,000 euros), the ID. 2 is based on an entry-level version of its MEB platform, offering up to 279 miles range.
VW brand leader Thomas Shafer confirmed the company would begin producing its even cheaper ID. 1 in 2027. It will start at about $21,700 (20,000 euros).
An electric Volkswagen hot hatch in the US?
At around $20,000, the ID. GTI would be Volkswagen’s most affordable EV in the US by far. The 2023 ID.4 starts at $38,995 (although VW is offering up to $13,000 off with a new lease deal), while the upgraded 2024 model gets a $740 price hike.
The ID.4 was the fifth best-selling EV in the US last year, with nearly 38,000 models sold. Meanwhile, an electric ID. GTI, starting at $25,000, could help boost sales as a volume model.
“My wish is that [$25,000] price point,” Di Si said, explaining, “If we cannot go to the 25, then it will be more of a niche product.”
However, nothing is set in stone. “Do we have a plan? Not yet,” Di Si said, “but it is on our radar.”
The electric Volkswagen ID. GTI concept “shows for the first time how the GTI label is being transferred to the age of electric mobility.” A production version, based on the MEB platform, is expected to roll out “by 2027 at the latest.”
The EV is inspired by the original GTI from 1976, with a modern upgrade for the new era.
Electrek’s Take
Despite several rivals, including Ford, GM, and Mercedes-Benz, scaling back EV plans, Volkswagen reaffirmed its targets during its annual media conference.
Volkswagen was the eighth best-selling EV brand in the US last year, with around 3.2% of the market. Although sales were up, VW was still behind rivals BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Hyundai.
The automaker expects growth to continue in the US with the longer-range ID.4 and the launch of two new EVs, the ID.7 and ID Buzz.
However, neither EV is expected to be a volume seller. Volkswagen confirmed plans to launch a larger electric SUV, but the ID. GTI hot hatch could be the volume seller they are looking for. Especially with starting prices around $20,000 to $25,000.
What do you guys think? Would you buy the VW electric ID GTI hot hatch for $25,000? Let us know in the comments.
Source: Automotive News
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
EV sales kept up their momentum in December 2024, with incentives playing a big role, according to the latest Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book report.
December’s strong EV sales saw an average transaction price (ATP) of $55,544, which helped push the industry-wide ATP higher, according to Kelley Blue Book. The December ATP for an EV was higher year-over-year by 0.8%, slightly below the industry average, and higher month-over-month by 1.1%. Tesla ATPs were higher year-over-year by 10.5%.
Incentives for EVs remained elevated in December, although they were slightly lower month-over-month at 14.3% of ATP, down from 14.7% in November.
EV incentives were higher by an impressive 41% year-over-year and have been above 12% of ATP for six consecutive months. Strong sales incentives, which averaged more than $6,700 per sale in 2024, were one reason EV sales surpassed 1.3 million units last year, according to Cox Automotive, a new record for volume and share.
(My colleague Jameson Dow reported yesterday, “In 2024, the world sold 3.5 million more EVs than it did in the previous year … This increase is larger than the 3.2 million increase in EV sales from the previous year – meaning that EV sales aren’t just up, but that the rate of growth is itself increasing.”)
Kelley Blue Book estimated that in December, approximately 84,000 vehicles – or 5.6% of total sales – transacted at prices higher than $80,000 – the highest volume ever. KBB lumps gas cars and EVs together into this luxury vehicle category, so this is where Tesla Cybertruck is slotted.
However, Tesla bundles sales figures of Cybertruck with Model S, Model X, and Tesla Semi(!) into a category it calls “other models,” so we don’t know for sure exactly how many Cybertrucks Tesla sold in Q4, much less in December. However, Electrek‘s Fred Lambert estimates between 9,000 and 12,000 Cybertrucks were sold in Q4, and that’s not a stellar sales figure.
What will January bring when it comes to EV ATPs? What about tax credits? Check back in a month and I’ll fill you in.
To limit power outages and make your home more resilient, consider going solar with a battery storage system. In order to find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and you share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started here. –trusted affiliate link*
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Tesla is now claiming that Cybertruck was the ‘best-selling electric pickup in US’ last year despite not even reporting the number of deliveries.
There’s a lot of context needed here.
As we often highlighted, Tesla is sadly one of, if not the most, opaque automakers regarding sales reports.
Tesla doesn’t break down sales per model or even region.
For comparison, here’s Ford’s Q4 2024 sales report compared to Tesla’s:
You could argue that Tesla has fewer models than Ford, and that’s true, but Tesla’s report literally has two lines despite having six different models.
There’s no reason not to offer a complete breakdown like all other automakers other than trying to make it hard to verify the health of each vehicle program.
This has been the case with the Cybertruck. Tesla is bundling its Cybertruck deliveries with Model S, Model X, and Tesla Semi deliveries.
Despite this lack of disclosure, Tesla has been able to claim that the Cybertruck has become “the best-selling electric pickup truck” in the US in 2024:
It very well might be true. Ford disclosed 33,510 F-150 Lightning truck deliveries in the US in 2024 while most estimates are putting Cybertruck deliveries at around 40,000 units.
Those are global deliveries, but Tesla only delivered the Cybertruck in the US, Canada, and Mexico in 2024, and most of the deliveries are believed to be in the US.
However, there’s essential context needed here, as we highlighted in our recent ‘Tesla Cybertruck sales are disastrous‘ article.
First off, Tesla had a backlog of over 1 million reservations for the Cybertruck that it has been building since 2019. This led many to believe Tesla already had years of demand baked in for the truck and that production would be the constraint.
However, based on estimates, again, because Tesla refuses to disclose the data, Cybertruck deliveries were either flat or down in Q4 versus Q3 despite Tesla introducing cheaper versions of the vehicle and ramping up production.
Again, that’s after just about 40,000 deliveries.
Furthermore, with almost 11,000 deliveries in Q4 in the US, Ford more likely than not outsold Cybertruck with the F-150 Lightning in Q4.
Electrek’s Take
Tesla is in damage control here. There’s no doubt that it is having issues selling the Cybertruck.
Inventory is full of Cybertrucks and Tesla is now discounting them and offering free lifetime Supercharging.
Tesla is great at ramping up production, and it’s clear the Cybertruck is not production-constrained anymore. It is demand-constrained despite having over 1 million reservations.
Again, those reservations were made before Tesla unveiled the production version, which happened to have less range and cost significantly more.
The upcoming cheaper single motor version should help with demand, but I have serious doubts Tesla can ramp this program up to more than 100,000 units in the US.
As a reminder, Tesla installed a production capacity of 250,000 units annually and Musk said he could see Tesla selling 500,000 Cybertrucks per year.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports10 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway