The Volkswagen ID.XTREME Concept Is An Off-Road EV Packing 3D-Printed Flares And Special Noises

Id Xtreme Topshot
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Rugged-looking crossovers are all the rage these days, and Volkswagen’s dipping its finger into the fountain. Say hello to the ID.XTREME Concept, which feels like the first Volkswagen named after a Chevrolet. Hey, maybe Volkswagen didn’t Google “Chevrolet S-10 Xtreme” or “Chevrolet Colorado Xtreme,” or maybe the company just thought everyone forgot about street trucks. Whatever the case, this concept variant of the ID.4 shares a name with the truck every Papa Roach-bumping teenager wanted in high school.

Just like the S-10 Xtreme’s fashionable street truck look of the early 2000s, the ID.XTREME Concept adopts a popular aftermarket trend, safari-style builds. Volkswagen took an ID.4 development car, jacked it up, threw on some knobby tires and other accouterments, and incorporated a few really innovative ideas.

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Let’s start with the powertrain. Volkswagen swapped in a new rear motor and fiddled with the motor controller to take the ID.XTREME Concept from a stock 295 horsepower to a remarkably stout 382. More importantly, the extra power is all at the back, which should give the ID.XTREME Concept a fairly rear-biased feel. It’s also interesting that motor swaps may still be part of tuning culture’s electric future, so long as the controller can be made to play nice.

As for looks, the ID.XTREME Concept is quite handsome in a rugged sort of way. Let’s start at the front, where the lower fascia has been entirely re-worked to accommodate a stinger bar and a massive skid plate. The skid plate goes where the ID.4’s grille would normally go, so Volkswagen has cut slots in the skid plate to keep the batteries cool while guarding precious heat exchangers. Along the sides, massive 50 mm fender flares are actually 3D printed, a neat example of how additive manufacturing can be used not only in the prototyping phase, but also to create cost-effective parts for niche products. It would’ve been really expensive and time-consuming to mold all the flares, so 3D printing really seems like the way to go here.

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Up top, a chunky roof rack with an integrated light bar looks ready for packing gear and turning night to day, while the OZ multi-spoke wheels wrapped in beefy off-road tires look ready to claw through loose terrain. While there aren’t any locking differentials on tap, full underbody skid plates should armor the battery pack and other underbody components from rocks, tree stumps, and other trail obstacles. Curiously, Volkswagen also tucked a speaker underneath the ID.XTREME Concept. It plays a special propulsion noise on the outside of the ID.XTREME Concept, which seems really strange. One of the big benefits of an electric powertrain in an off-roader is a reduction in noise pollution over a combustion powertrain, so adding some of that noise back for every squirrel, deer, and bird outside the vehicle to hear is a bit odd. [ED note: Not if you’re a deer trying to avoid becoming venison jerky! – MH]

ID.XTREME

The ID.XTREME Concept makes its first public appearance at ID. Treffen, an electric Volkswagen show that’s bit like the famed Wörthersee event for fans of GTIs and other quick VWs. ID. Treffen runs from September 6 to 10 in Locarno, Switzerland on the shore of Lago Maggiore, just in case you’re in Europe and want to go. In any case, Volkswagen’s done some really interesting stuff with this ID.4-based concept and I’d be curious to see if some technologies like 3D printed parts and synthesized external vehicle sounds make it to production cars in the future.

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11 thoughts on “The Volkswagen ID.XTREME Concept Is An Off-Road EV Packing 3D-Printed Flares And Special Noises

  1. I got a mad fetish for Class 7,8,9 vehicles. Most have a Rabbit Bumper (what equates to that tiny useless little mess of tubed steel, doesnt protect much.) Id prefer a MOOSE Bumper, something that actually protects SOMETHING important. That looks like I could kick the parts in and theyd fold. Rabbit Bumpers also connect to the tow hitch points… which makes it shitty when ya gotta use the tow points.

    This thing wishes it was something.

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  2. I feel like Dodge adding revving noises to a premium model EV is going to create a trend that will end up undermining the “quietness” aspect of EVs, similar to the “relicing” trend in electric guitar finishes (take a brand new instrument – sometimes a totally new design – and make it look old for the sake of “character”) resulting in instruments that cost 2 or 3 times more than “non-reliced” models.

    1. Thats a tactic called weathering.. or aging or some such. Pants err Jeans are that way and have been for a while. Turns out, if ya want holes in your pants up to your DONT-TOUCH-ME-THERE parts.. you can buy them for XX,XXX dollars. I thought if ya did lawn work, or put stuff in your pockets or ripped your pockets cause ya were working doing any number of things.. then your get holes.

      Also…
      Whats the point of a “quiet” Laptop on Wheels to be on the street? = Guess it makes as much sense as wireless charger, but there still has to be a wire to deliver the power to the device. = Taking away the shifter and replacing it with cup holders (while adding in computer controls so that it wont slide back on you when not in park. (Ford has a recall on that, so did Jeep and others.)) So much for trying to bypass the intent…

  3. Monsters from the ID.! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2BYyeS-fIU

    VW EV model names that didn’t make it past marketing:

    ID.IoT (using special Ion Transport power cells)
    ID.ea (an earth-friendly model using all recyclable materials.
    ID.Entity (a completely personalizable vehicle)
    ID.yll (projects pastoral scenes on the interior of the windows while the car is driving itself)

  4. I hate when companies make an “extreme” version of their product, and I REALLY hate it when they call it XTREME. Just give it a new name. ID.4X is better.

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