VW Reinvents Itself! New ID.Polo + ID.Polo GTI + ID.Cross FIRST LOOK
[Music] Oh, VW, you big T’s. For over 2 years now, the German Mark has been titillating us with concepts designed to give increasingly big hints as to what to expect from their next generation of electric cars when they finally start arriving next year. Today, we’ve come to Munich to take a look at one final concept that offers the best insight yet. It’s this, the new ID cross. But wait, there’s more. Because we’ve also been treated to a very, very early look at two production versions of previously teased concepts. We once knew them as ID2 all and ID GTI. We now know their true names, ID Polo and Polo GTI. Yep. VW might be running late to the affordable EV party, but it’s starting to look like their arrival might be worth the wait. Welcome to the Everything Electric show. [Music] Our three free YouTube channels on EVs and clean tech are funded by our fun-packed test drivetastic events in Farra, London, the Southwest, the North, Melbourne, and Sydney, and next up, Everythingele Electric Fra. And new for UK viewers. You can now buy a battery EV and much more at everything. Now, back to the episode, and we begin with the interior. unusually because actually this this is what this concept is all about for me. The ID2 all and ID GTI concept they gave us an idea about exterior design. The ID everyone gave us some more insight about software and technology. This one, the ID Cross, this is our best look yet at the interiors of the next generation of VWs. And goodness me, it’s a big change. Cast your mind back to the ID3, ID4, ID7. What were the gripes with that car? Well, frustrating user experience was one. Over reliance on fiddly haptics and not enough window switches in the door and confusing menus. Well, it’s very apparent that VW have very deliberately addressed that because look, look at this. This is the actual production steering wheel of what this car will go on to be. The same steering wheel that the other models will use. And look, it’s just a simple two-spoke wheel with two big banks of physical, easy to understand, clicky buttons. Look at this. Look at this little masterpiece. This is the new bank of switches that will adorn the dash of every new VW model. All of them will have this lovely little bank of switches. Gone are the rubby haptics up here. There’s now just room to rest your hand when you’re operating the touchcreen, which by the way operates using a new interface, which VW promises is much more intuitive. Perhaps most excitingly, if I very gently close this door, I’ve got four window switches. If you spent time with ID cars, you’ll know what I’m talking about. They all have two window switches and then a haptic button. they have to press in order to make those window switches serve the rear windows. Infuriating. Gone. Fixed. Altogether, what we have is a very deliberate effort to make this a more userfriendly, intuitive, and tactile interior relative to the previous ID models. Delightful news. What was the second big gripe with the VW ID3 and subsequent models in terms of their interior? Perceived quality or lack thereof. They felt a bit cheap and nasty, certainly relative to previous VW models which historically have been very good at making an affordable car feel quite expensive and premium inside. Well, look at these materials. This is all a bit different, isn’t it? There is, get this, no black plastic anywhere in this interior. Not one piece of fingerprinty piano black car of the year. It’s the car of the year. 2026. Congratulations, VW ID Cross. It’s the car of the year. I mean, it’s just so much better, isn’t it? Just having lovely soft fabrics everywhere. I’m such a fan of jazzy seat upholstery. I’m such a proponent of it. And this is this is a new uh example of the genre. This is a lovely It’s kind of a bit towy, but slightly swankier than that. I’m sure I’m doing it terrible disservice by calling it toy. Um, but it’s really, really lovely. It’s got a lovely texture to it. Feels quite thick. Same material on the dash here. This is going to be darker on the production car because they’re having some reflection issues with this lighter material, but it will be fabric. Fabric everywhere. And it just creates this lovely soft, warm, cozy cabin. This color is called vanilla chai. This is the actual color that the seats will be offered in. One of several, I imagine. Uh, I would make fun of the fact it’s called vanilla chai, but I actually had one of those this morning. So, don’t really have a leg to stand on, do I? And this is a lovely touch as well. In here, we have leaves, actual leaves from a eucalyptus plant, which are kind of printed and housed in this translucent plastic. I’ve been assured that this is actually going to make it to production. This is not one of those conceptsy features that will never see the light of day. Speaking of concepty features that will never see the light of day, we have uh inserts, 3D printed inserts for plant pots and incense that we can slot into the cup holders. I might be wrong, but I don’t think I don’t think those will make it to production. Anyway, long story short, the main point of this interior, the main point of this concept, in my opinion, is that VW understands what they got wrong and they’re working on it. They understand the things that weren’t quite right about the interior of those first generation ID cars and they have addressed them. And this to me at a glance just looks to be a infinitely more premium feeling and userfriendly cabin. Okay. Speedy back seat jack test. The actual seats aren’t production specs, so they’re quite hard, but the ergonomics in here are. And what I will say is that’s a high knee. Now bearing in mind this is a fairly compact car. I am a unusually tall man, but that is a high knee. I’m quite surprised by them, I have to say. But headroom is good. Decent amount of space, flat floor, just such a nice material. And there’s a couple of little bonus features that I don’t think I can show you on this concept, but will be the case on the production car. Number one, under bench storage. There’s going to be over 30 lers of storage under the rear passenger seats. That is so good. I love that. Additionally, there’ll be the option to fold these back seats super super far back and recline while charging or I don’t know, maybe camp in it. Nice big panoramic sunroof that is going to production. It doesn’t retract, but it will have a cover if you don’t feel like getting sunburnts on a hot day. It is honestly quite surreal looking across that dash and thinking this is the next generation of VW ID car because it’s so utterly different to the first generation and you have to applaud that from VW. It’s difficult as a really really big company to publicly admit that you made mistakes that you got stuff wrong and that’s exactly what they’ve done. They’ve owned it. They’ve listened to criticism and feedback from journalists and customers. They’ve taken it on board. They’ve actioned it. We we have the things that we wanted all along. Proper physical buttons, no more rubby haptic stuff, and just a more premium interior. Nice. Right, let’s do the outside now. [Music] Right, welcome to the outside of the ID Cross. Sorry about that. I was too excited. I had to do the interior first. I hope you understand why. Let’s go back to the beginning. What is this thing? Well, it’s a slightly larger, taller, more practical version of what we’re going to see in a moment. The ID Polo that’s next door. The Polo comes first. That’s the first car of this new generation arriving next year. Then we get this. We don’t know what it’s actually going to be called yet. Then we get the GTI. And then we get the really small one, the ID1 or whatever that goes on to be called. And this car, like the Polo, is going to showcase VW’s new upgraded architecture, the MEB Plus. It’s really quite different. It’s not just revised. They’ve really kind of chucked it out and started again. New battery, new software stack. It’s frontwheel drive now. Uh, which kind of makes sense for little hatchbacks and small economy cars. I feel they’re very proud of it from a software perspective. VW says that this car will have drive assist capability beyond that of their biggest most expensive models currently offered, which is to say, you know, it’ll be able to identify stop signs and red lights when self-driving, stuff like that. That’s pretty cool. And I’m loathed to say it, but this is probably the most important of this new generation. Given that this is a small crossover, given that that is the car of the moment, the fastest growing and most popular segment in Europe, it’s fair to assume that this will be the most popular of these first new models. So, they need to get it right. Speedy design walkound then 80% production ready. We’re told 80%. A lot of the body panels are actual production panels. You can pretty much tell what’s going to change, right? The arches are slightly more flared than they’ll end up being. The wheels are an inch bigger than they’ll end up being. This jazzy situation here where the pattern of the wheel goes into the tire is not making it to production. What will make it to production is this nice happy face. There’s been a real emphasis on happylooking cars with this new generation of EVs. Happy and distinctly VW. That’s the other big target here. criticisms that were leveled at the ID3, ID4, ID7 is that they don’t look enough like VWs. There’s not enough to connect them to their history, to their heritage. And of course, heritage is quite a powerful thing to have in 2025 when there’s all these shiny new car brands with no heritage to draw on. So, we’re seeing this a lot now. We’re seeing legacy brands like VW dipping back into their past and just going, “Hello, just a reminder. We’ve been doing cars for a long time.” And here’s the proof. So, it does to me immediately look more recognizably like a VW model than, for example, an ID4. I like that the face is slightly higher than it is on the other models we’ve seen, the ID Polo for example, just to give it that kind of crossover chunkiness. It’s very unfussy, which I really like. There’s no fiddly little bits of trim. Everything is fairly purposeful. I enjoy this illuminated sensor at the bottom as well. I’m not sure if that makes it to production. We’ll see. Plastic cladding around the wheel is something that I’ve moaned about a lot in the past, but I enjoy the texture of this particular wheel cladding. Another thing they’re banging on about a lot with this new generation of cars is perceived quality, maximum value, making your affordable object feel more expensive than it is. And this is a little bit of that. I feel just slightly poshing up a boring bit of plastic with an interesting bit of texture. Nice. Moving around the side, again, distinctly VW. If you’re a big geek like me, you’ll see it in the shape of the SE-pillar. Very Golf in this flat line underneath the windows. these three louvers. There’s a little bit VW bus. The ID bars has the same motif just bringing it all back together. And then around the back there is quite a lot of lighting. We’ve got the illuminated badge. We’ve got these streaks across the back. We’ve got this really lovely brake light signature, the two whiskey glass as they call it. This is one of my favorite design motifs on this new generation of car. We saw it on the ID GTI and the two wall and it’s here as well. Really cool indicators as well. Have a look at this. They kind of go outwards. There’s a real depth of field to them. It’s a lovely little touch. I like those. I don’t like that, but I like those. And this is a bit nifty, too. In the back, we have That was a very concept car boot opening. This thing is going to be on many stages at many shows in the next few weeks and months, and they’re letting me just poke it and touch stuff. Bad idea. Anyway, this is a big boot with a nice flat lip, but there’s also another boot under the boot. A very Ford Pummeresque. That is really, really quite a lot of space. 450 L combined. Those two boots. One of the benefits of a front-wheel drive architecture, of course, you get more room to play with at the back. Technical specs, yes, those we are still fairly short on. This is more design focused as a concept car. We do know that it’s going to have over 200 PS delivered to the front wheel, so it’s going to be fairly zippy. And range is quoted at up to 420 kilm. We don’t know how big the battery actually is. We don’t know what the battery is made of or what makes it new and exciting. Are they doing something funky with the cells? Not sure. That’s all down the line. As for price, that we’re still not sure about with this model at least. Of course, the ID2 all or as it’s about to be the ID Polo. We’ll show you that in a minute. That’s going to be 22 23 grand starting price. This is a bit bigger, bit more practical, probably a little bit more expensive. It stands to reason. Incidentally, if you want to hear some more technical nitty-gritty about the software embedded in this new generation of cars and how that’s going to be different from the previous ID models, I really recommend you go and watch our video on the ID everyone concept where we delved into that a lot deeper. This concept for me is mostly about the interior and the complete new approach to designing the cabin of a car. The fact that they’ve taken all the feedback and criticism on board from the previous gen ID cars and fixed it as far as I can tell will save final judgment until final production. Maybe all those physical buttons are really mushy and yucky for example. Who knows? For the time being, I’m really excited about this. I’m so happy to see almost everything that I moaned about with the ID3 and subsequent models addressed and fixed here. But what if you don’t care about crossovers? What if you just want a small hatchback with a iconic name plate? Well, come with me. [Music] Right, then fancy some bonus content? Welcome to the first production versions of the next generation of electric VW. I’m going to be very honest with you. We didn’t know these were going to be here. We came to Germany to film the cross and this is this is a pleasant surprise. Andy Mint was like, “Fancy a couple more.” Um, so we’re winging it, but they’re too exciting not to put into the video. I mean, the names alone are quite a big deal. This was the ID2 all concept. This was the ID GTI concept. We now know that they will be called ID Polo and ID Polo GTI. that is rather significant. Returning to classic names from their history, connecting with their heritage, all that good stuff. The same stuff they’re doing in terms of design language, in fact. So, what can we tell underneath the funky camo? Well, the biggest compliment I can pay this car is just looks like the next generation of Polo. And again, this is something VW are really putting their hands up and owning. And if you are a big VUB nerd like I am, then I can see VW motifs everywhere. There I can see in that straight line across the bottom of the windows. I can see it in the shape of that SE-pillar. It’s very Gulf. From the back, if you look at how it’s kind of narrow and then wider at the bottom, that’s very Golf. It’s very Golf MarkV. I stole that from Andy Mint. I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t come up with that myself. It’s a much more traditional looking VW into my eye. A better looking car than just about any ID model that we’ve seen to date. Naturally, some things have shrunken and become less swollen on the journey from concept to reality. It’s a little bit less wheel archy. The wheels themselves have gone down an inch in size, but that’s about it actually. Very encouraged by well, just how similar this looks to that ID2 concept. Those brake lights almost exactly the same. The two whiskey glass motif that I thought was especially cool. And to recap, this ID Polo, this is 2223,000. This is going to be the first one to arrive next year. This starts off this new generation. It’ll be the first car to showcase the new MEB plus platform, that heavily revised architecture, frontwheel drive. It’s going to have between 100 and 150 kW of power depending on what model you select. And range will range from 300 to 450 km, meaning there’s going to be different battery options. That’s the ID Polo in a nutshell. This This is the new ID Polo GTI. ID Polo GTI. One car. That’s exciting. We had a look at the concept, the ID GTI concept in Wolfsburg, gosh, two years ago, I think now. And well, I was smitten as a former Golf GTI owner. This means a lot to me seeing that badge adorn the back of an electric car. And again, design-wise, the headline is the same. It looks like the concept. It’s still got big swollen arches. It’s got a slightly different but aggressive rear wing and a big chunky diffuser. It’s got the same awesome wheel design with that little golf ball motif in the middle. Again, they’ve shrunk down an inch in size because concept reality. Fine. But what a mean-l looking little thing this is. This is a this is a clue as to the color that the launch car will be. By the way, that’s a fairly iconic red if you know your Golf GTI. Another thing I really like, if we come around to the front, come on, Andy, is this new light signature. You see these little vertical lights at the extremities of the front. This is now going to adorn all future VW GTI models, electric or petrol. That’s going to be a really easy way of identifying a GTI car henceforth. I think that’s quite cool. In terms of what’s underneath, we’ve not gained much additional information. We know that they’re prioritizing lightness. The pre-homologated car is down to 1,550 kilos, which is really not bad at all for an EV. We know it’s going to have a limited slip differential for maximum grip through corners. And some slightly cryptic things have been said about making acceleration more emotional. Does that mean they’re playing with fake sound fake gearboxes? I don’t know. I don’t know. Pure speculation. I kind of hope so because I’d love to see that tech that I so enjoy on the IonX 5N translated into a smaller car like this. Anyway, I’m getting carried away. I’m making things up. Uh, this is quite exciting. This is what we’ve been waiting for for a long, long time. and this new generation of affordable small VWs. It’s so close now, I can almost touch them. In the meantime, let us know what you think about the ID Cross, about the new ID Polo and Polo GTI in the comments. Please make sure to like and subscribe, and if you have been, thanks for watching. Now, visit electric vehicles.expert where you can follow everything electric and keep current with Clean Technica, the driven, electric, and many more.
For over 20 years, the German car marque has been teasing us with concepts hinting at the future of electric vehicles. Now, the wait is nearly over. In this episode, Jack travels to Munich to check out what might be the final concept before launch, the VW ID2X, offering the clearest idea yet of what Volkswagen’s next generation of EVs will look like.
That’s not all. We’ve also had an early look at two production versions of previously teased concepts, the ID.Polo and ID.Polo GTI.
Volkswagen may be late to the affordable EV game, but if these cars are anything to go by, their arrival could be worth the wait.
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00:00 VW ID2X, ID.Polo and ID.Polo GTI
01:30 VW ID2X Interior
04:10 Materials & Upholstery
05:50 Features
06:35 Rear Seats
07:30 Sunroof
08:20 Design & Exterior
13:00 Boot
15:20 ID.Polo
17:35 Costs & Range
18:15 ID.Polo GTI
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