If you’ll soon be in the market for an electric sedan, your incoming pool of choice may be smaller than expected. The Volkswagen ID.7 sedan has been delayed for North America, with no public timeline on its launch. If this is giving shades of the Arteon launch, you aren’t just imagining things.
Volkswagen initially claimed its Arteon liftback would go on sale in America in 2018, a timeline that was pushed back to 2019 back in autumn 2018. While the Arteon did eventually come to the U.S. market, it wasn’t exactly a sales success, and that vibe is currently clouding the recently announced delay of the ID.7.
With an 82 kWh battery pack and 200 kW DC fast charging, the ID.7 competes directly with the Hyundai Ioniq 6 while offering a larger footprint than a Tesla Model 3 and the added practicality of a hatch-like liftback. However, the USA and Canada will be waiting longer than expected for the ID.7, likely for a variety of reasons. While Volkswagen states it’s because the model’s an unexpected hit in Europe, it’s possible that the story goes deeper than that.
Tariffs on Chinese-built EVs may make it difficult to import ID.7s from China, instead relying on production capacity at VW’s Emden plant in Germany. As Emden is already juggling multiple model lines, and Automotive News Europe reported an EV production cut at the plant last year, there’s a chance the production capacity just doesn’t exist to bring the ID.7 to North America at this time. There’s also the chance that forecast volumes don’t make sense at this time, as Volkswagen has stated in a media advisory that brand growth in America is “driven by its SUV segment.” If sales of traditional passenger cars are stagnant or declining, why introduce another one?
As a product, the Volkswagen ID.7 seems seriously promising, given our experience with a prototype. The adaptive dampers have 15 stages of adjustment, allowing for extra softness or extra stiffness over the preset comfort and sport settings, and the steering setup makes this big sedan surprisingly nimble, as we noted earlier:
The steering here feels quick and responsive, with enough heft in Sport mode to satisfy. I especially like the small turning radius, helpful when I have to park the car in an outdoor courtyard with tables full of media folks chatting away while I perilously execute a sharp u-turn in their midst.
So, when can we expect the Volkswagen ID.7 to finally make it to America? Well, we don’t know. Volkswagen didn’t state a timeline in its media release, but we’ve reached out to the automaker and will report back once we get an update. In the meantime, Volkswagen has noted that the ID.Buzz will go on sale in America in the fourth quarter of this year, so even though it’s been years of waiting on that, the reborn microbus should roll into showrooms relatively soon.
Still, that likely won’t satiate sedan die-hards, long-time Passat owners, or the handful of North Americans who bought Arteons. The smaller frontal area of a sedan compared to a crossover pays dividends in the electric vehicle space. So, how about a Hyundai or a Tesla? The Ioniq 6 and Model 3 aren’t liftbacks, but they’re on sale in America right now, and that’s something we can’t say about the ID.7.
Photo credits: Volkswagen
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I don’t care for the ID styling language.
Example – the headlights. The shape is halfway between looking like they are trying to flow with the lines of the vehicle and trying to be a featured detail.
I would! Gimme blue! mine. mine. mine.
That lift back trunk access is epic
“Who really wants one?”
Me. I want one. I was all set to buy the Ioniq 6 but was disappointed by the size of the trunk- I want this to be a family road trip vehicle after all.
But it’s fine. I know I’m a weirdo. Go sell your SUVs or whatever, VW.
How does the EV6 stack up for you? I know technically it is a crossover but almost has wagon vibes. I haven’t seen the cargo area in person.
I need to check it out! I checked out an Ioniq 5 and it was honestly pretty nice.
The trunk was a bit smaller than expected, but mostly the exterior felt weirdly cheap for a $50k car and I wanted a little more range on the AWD . The EV6 actually has less plastic cladding and about 10 percent more range, so it might be perfect.
Another option is a BMW i4. If you can get over the front, it’s a lift back sedan and in the edrive40 and xdrive40 both have more than 300 miles of range with 18” wheels.
VW is smart enough to know Americans don’t care at all about the environment or fuel prices and only want big-ass trucks.
Oh cool, they are substituting the ID.7 Tourer for the sedan, right?
Please?
?
First they came for the station wagons and I did not speak out. Then they came for the minivans and I did not speaker out. When they came for the sedans there was only CUVs left to speaker for them.
VW cannot go without shooting itself in the foot.
First they announce the ID Buzz for the US market, then they don’t do anything for a long time except bring BEVs to the US that noone wants to buy, then all the new news about the ID Buzz is bad news, like no pre-ordering, only extremely expensive models, no cargo variant, etc.
At first people were hoping for a BEV version of the old VW Bus, instead they got a minivan propped up on nostalgia that only Tech CEOs can afford, that still isn’t for sale in the US…
I think you’re looking for IED…
Like being late for a party no one really invited you for
No need for an overpriced electric Arteon saddled with gimmicky controls and naming convention from an automaker that long forgot how to make attractive or reliable vehicles. Too bad, because the sportback form does have some promise for a revival from those tired of so many cookie cutter CUVs…maybe.
I’m patiently waiting for someone to build a price and range competitive BEV sedan or similar that’s normal to operate, typically practical, and doesn’t look like a sci-fi movie prop.
Two words: station wagon.
Two words: unrequited love.
If it’s going to have the roof going all the way to the back, might as well be a wagon, it would look better and be better.
The irony of VW sucking at EV’s is hilarious when an EV Platform is just a modern iteration of the Type 1,2,3,4 chassis. Design it smart. Build it smart. Use quality parts. People will buy it. All these OEMs are run by the same MBA chucklefucks who have forgotten what sells products while their noses are buried in pointless tableau charts and tables about their shit product.
I’m probably one of the few people who was looking forward to at least giving this a test drive, though I would have preferred the wagon more, which already wasn’t coming.
Guess a Cadillac Lyriq will be my next purchase, it is somewhat wagon like compared to most crossovers.
That and it actually looks good
I’ve had a Lyriq since February. 6,000 miles, 2 road trips and lots of super cruising. It reminds me of the big cushy Cadillacs my Grandfather had. Think of it as a tall dEVille wagon that never was.
I test drove a Sport 3 not too long ago. It is a very nice place to be.
Just waiting for interest rates to not be total shit at the moment and no special financing through Cadillac/GM on Lyrics ATM.
Yeah, I do wish the interest rates were better as well. I snapped mine up when GM was taking off what a tax rebate would be plus a Costco discount plus some other assorted savings I had (GM card) plus another discount for a door ding, plus a nearly break even trade on a 10 year old car with over 80K miles on it. The dealership I got mine from had 2X more Lyriqs than all other new Cadillacs combined. It was a perfect storm deal.
Also if you want a cushier ride test out one with 20″ wheels instead of the 22″. When I got mine you couldn’t get a lux or sport 3 without 22″s. Now you can. I got a sport 2.
Yep, this happened.
VW is in a hole in North America right now.
Their only cool offering has been taking ages to get here (the electric Bus, I refuse to call it the “ID.Buzz”). And while cool, it’s loaded with disappointing design choices.
The styling of their entire lineup isn’t enticing. It’s not ugly, but absolutely nothing they currently offer manages to come close to looking best in class.
Their interiors have gone to shit.
The previously mentioned Bus can’t be fast tracked, but somehow an electric sedan–you know, the sedan, that most American’s can’t be bothered with anymore–seemily needs to be slow rolled. Talk about a mismanagement of priorities.
Their bread and butter GTI is loaded with flaws and has gotten quite pricey. Sales reflect it.
All the electric vehicles have a dumb name.
They need to go back to 2002 and figure out what was working for VW then, and build off that. If they could give us early 2000s levels of offerings without 2002 VW reliability, people would be flocking to them.
I think the biggest mistake VW USA made was completely ignoring the truck market and fumbling the CUV market. Like, I get it, VW’s good Euro stuff doesn’t typically sell here, but their watered down Americanized stuff just isn’t competitive to other watered down Americanized stuff. The Atlas has got to be one of the worst in class; the Tiguan is completely uncompelling and is one of the few without either a hybrid OR more powerful/sporty-ish engine. Like, how does teeny Mazda offer two engines in the CX-5 but VW can only muster one that only competes on the low end? Subaru even offers two engines in their Outback if they don’t anymore in the Forester. You got the Golf R engine (or even GTI) just sitting there, slap that bad boy in there. It’s like a weird mix of “premium” Euro stuff (Golf R, Arteon) and milquetoast American market specific crap. Instead of federalizing the Arteon, they should have federalized the Amarok and built it in their TN plant. As much as I want a new Touareg, I get that it probably wont sell, but is the pretty slow selling Atlas really the best the 2nd largest manufacturer in the world can do for American market?
VW entering the US truck market 10, 20 or even 30 years ago could have been a great success or a horrible mistake. The Big 3 still rule supreme in the truck market despite some pretty good offerings from Nissan and Toyota over the years. The only truck that has had the Big 3 scrambling to catch up is the Tacoma, but the Tacoma pales in comparison (sales wise) to the full-sizers. So they aren’t that worried about it.
I could easily see some alternative timeline where VW went through all the work to make/bring the Amarok here and have it be a sales flop.
Related to this, the only VW development I’m interested in is their electric Binders that’ll be coming soon. Hopefully their release is a bit speedier than the Bus, but I won’t hold my breath.
Why oh why does VW always screw up in the North American market? They should have sent us the ID.Buzz when it was launched. Not “4th quarter 2024”. What are they doing? That thing in SWB form has been on sale in the EU for over a year. And it’s the only compelling EV that they currently have on the market. The ID.7 looks god-awful. The proportions are terrible, the weird little haunches of all the ID models look so stupid. The ID.4 looks like a bloated jelly bean. It seems like all of the VWs that are compelling end up being Skodas, and no one from VW understands that is what would sell in the USA.
I’m a VW fanboy too – I’ve owned 8 VAG produts, and I just can’t with their product line right now. The Taos? Why give us a shitty chinese market SUV? How about just the SWB Tiguan? The Tiguan? It’s OK but old and slow as hell and they are going to send us some “special for the NA market” tarted up chinese market SUV, not the euro tiguan. I really don’t get it.
Or the will we/won’t we back and forth deliberations on whether to offer a pickup here, or the half-assed Routan rebadge when they already had a perfectly good van. North America (excluding Mexico) seems like an unimportant afterthought to Volkswagen, they just don’t seem to really care much about properly managing it
Then VW goes and does stuff like not having keyless entry on lower trim GTIs, despite the fact that my base model Golf Sportwagen having keyless entry 10 years ago. All while the GTI price has crept up considerably. I mean, I get it, it’s not 2014 and inflation is a thing, but come on.
I had a base spec MK7.5 GTI for a few years and that thing was spartan. No keyless entry. No push button start. The headlights were fucking halogens that might as well have been pulled out of a 90s car. SiriusXM radio wasn’t even an option on the 2020s IIRC. The goddamn cruise control didn’t work half the time. The stock wipers were completely dead after a year.
The saving grace was the interior materials. Pretty much everything up front was soft touch and it has rear seat vents, which is rare these days outside of luxury cars. Regardless, the EA888 gave me so many goddamn problems I got out of the car after two years.
The new GTI is laughably unappealing to me. It has everything I didn’t like about my MK7.5 but with worse styling, worse interior materials, the haptic hell world interior…outside of diehard VW fanboys I have no idea why you’d willingly choose one in 2024.
The Civic SI is cheaper and will be exponentially less trouble to own…and the Integra exists if you want a luxury version. At MSRP the GR Corolla is the same price as a mid spec GTI. The Elantra N is so much faster and more engaging to drive that it’s hard to believe they’re in the same class of.m cars…and if you’re a sicko like me the Kona N is out there too if you need the hatch.
Way too much body above the top of the wheels/tires. Just bloated in the wrong direction to likely hide the impact of placing batteries underneath. The overall package is appealing, for less money, and a better body style.
Make it a wagon and I’d buy one. Seriously, just another couple of cubic feet to fit larger cubes.
It would be at the top of my list if it was a wagon, but knowing VW they’d bring it over then not market it at all and push all the promotions for their SUVs and then wonder why it didn’t sell.
Several posters beat me to it. There seems to be a market of at least three people.
Just make sure there are physical controls, VW, and I’m in.
And looks like they will make one. How much more does it cost to make it US-legal? (I’m guessing a lot versus how many he expect to sell.)
https://www.theautopian.com/volkswagen-proves-wagons-arent-dead-with-the-id-7-tourer/
I mean, my current car is a Corolla Wagon called a Matrix. Same owner’s manual and everything.
People will really want one if they’re not too expensive.
Doesn’t VW have a plant in Chattanooga – where they no longer built the Passat?
They build ID4s there – aren’t these on a related platform?
Why can’t they build this car in the US?
I think they are planning on the ID.Buzz being built there which will sell way better than this sedan.
Is that on the same platform as ID4 too – or am I remembering wrong?
The folks who want a sedan won’t buy a van or a CUV – which is what makes platform and systems sharing so wonderful: You can do lower volume models at a reasonable cost.
Same MEB platform but more batteries.. since the aerodynamics of the buzz ( brick) is not good.
I see Buzz sales will be like other hip cars like the Gladiators.. command high prices initially then fizzle out.
They were planning to build their electric van in Chattanooga, but axed those plans for some reason. The US version will be built in Hanover.
German unions getting really pissy, mostly (and I don’t blame them).
If the Buzz sells well enough they’ll start making it in Chattanooga too, especially now that they are unionized as well.
VW continues to show they’re completely lost and confused with no clue how to capture the attention and money of US buyers. As a former Mk7.5 Golf Sportwagen owner, there isn’t a single thing in VWs product lineup I see as compelling.
The ID.4 is atrocious as a new product, the Tiguan is ancient, the Atlas has a history of horrible reliability and is also old, the Jetta is meh/old, the Mk8 GTI/R has a horrendous interior, and they can’t even deliver the ID.Buzz that people want to buy.
The ID.7 seems decent, but the VW interior and exterior design philosophy is a soul-less, haptic feedback hell without the engineering excellence you’d expect from a VW. As if Jason Camissa hadn’t made it clear enough over the years, VW is completely and utterly lost without Piech at the helm, and it’s clear now that every product with his influence has been phased out.
Amen to this sentiment. I’ve owned a few VAG products from the Piech era – and what VW is putting out these days is nothing like them.
Minus the ID Buzz, their lineup has been an utter snoozefest for a while now. Just anonymous, bland appliances that will probably cost a fortune to maintain.
It’s been so sad to watch. I know the sentiment is cliche at this point, but Mk7.5 Golf really felt like peak VW, or at least peak Golf. It was understated but classy and still somewhat stylish, now their cars are just bland and generic. the Mk7 interior may not have been stylish, but good materials where where you wanted them, ergonomics were exceptional, and everything made sense. Now it’s touch buttons without haptics (or backlights on some!) and an overall cheep look.
Did they fix known failure points? Heck no, you just get to keep paying high maintenance cost and eat even more depreciation than usual! Das Auto indeed.
“the engineering excellence you’d expect from a VW”
HUH? Are people expecting this? I certainly am not. Not after owning one. Never again.
That was more of a statement towards build quality and feel, My Golf threw a low coolant warning at me the day before I traded it in while it was under warranty. That said the interior quality was exceptional for the money, and the driving experience was sublime, even if it wasn’t quick. It really did feel like a more expensive car than it was, I just got lucky dumping it before it started costing me German car maintenance prices.
Conversely, the Mk4 I owned had the build quality of a Yugo and the driving characteristics of farm equipment.
I owned a VW for two years. I will never own one again. I bought it brand new and it spent the first 5,000 miles misfiring, throwing assorted codes, and getting passed around between VW techs who claimed there wasn’t a problem since they couldn’t replicate it.
My sister had to get out of her Tiguan after two years as well because the sunroof broke and flooded the car THREE TIMES! In addition to that, the chucklefuck VW techs had failed to fix the recalled sunroof during the certification process for her car and sold it to her defective.
My mom’s A4 Allroad was mechanically totaled at 60,000 miles. Water got somewhere it wasn’t supposed to be and the godforsaken EA888 completely seized. It was basically a massive paperweight when she got rid of it…and all of this went down within days of her extended warranty expiring because of course it did.
I will never even consider owning a VAG product that isn’t a Porsche, and even if I wind up in one eventually I’m not touching one with a powertrain that VW has had any say in whatsoever. You keep that shit away from me, flat 6 or fuck all the way off.
Sedans are the most basic level of transportation. Yes, they will inevitably handle better than taller CUVs/SUV’s (but they’ve gotten REAL good at handling as of late), but for transporting people or things (or both) a Rav-4 or CRV is better. This isn’t even taking into account the benefit of ground clearance (if you need that; Ontario resident here). Before you attack me about ground clearance I understand if you live in some far away place like California where you have sun and smooth roads, sure, ground clearance isn’t necessarily a huge benefit, but I can assure you in Ontario it is.
If you’re able to afford numerous vehicles, sure, a sedan has it’s place as a commuter car, but if you can *only* afford 1 vehicle, there are far better options that will excel at 99% of everything a sedan can do. I can understand why sedans are going away, especially with the cost of vehicles rising; less people can afford numerous vehicles so may as well get something that can do more.
/end rant
Did you know that there was snow before the 1990’s?
People drove RWD and FWD cars in the snow and bad weather then.
I was there – I witnessed it in Upper Michigan, where we got 12′ of snow every winter in the 70’s And most folks somehow survived!
(I don’t think they get nearly as much snow these days – IIRC, the Soo River didn’t even freeze over for most of this past winter.)
A Corolla or a Civic can do 90% of what a RAV4 or CRV can do 95% of the time. The lower up front cost, insurance costs, lower maintenance and lower fuel bills make up for the lack of 5th percentile utility – when most folks could either borrow or rent a truck, get stuff delivered, or just stay home during that blizzard.
Plus – Some people would just prefer to drive a car – not an all-weather shopping cart.
I’m not going to pretend I know the exact percentages for this exercise, but these are highly highly exaggerated. I have 3 small kids and a Corolla could do approximately 0% of any activities that include all of them.
If you’re a single or childless person who drives a Rav4, your numbers might be a little closer.
The Mommy Blogs say 3 child seats can fit across the back of a Corolla.
But what do I know?
Perhaps the very smallest ones commercially available, but I can assure you from frustrating personal experience that it’s challenging to get 3 normal ones across in a full size Chevy SS. Plus whatever stuff you’re bringing along with them.
Everyone’s mileage varies, of course. If it works for them, great. Since getting my CRV, I don’t miss my sedans and wagons dragging their belly on the snow, or smashing the bumper trying to get through the drift after the plow comes by. Would I love a button that locks it in FWD for 90% of the time? Absolutely. My Tercel was/ is great in winter, but in my use case, the CRV is much better.
I live in eastern ontario. Have a 18 Honda Accord and a 07 Subaru SUV. Both are shod with winter tires before the snow flies. I have daily driven both and have not noticed any difference in winter performance. Have not gotten stuck, or had and problems with ground clearance. Nice thing about the Honda is it gets great fuel economy. The Subaru does not.
That’s great, I live in an apartment where the plow leaves a 2 foot high barrier to get over in the winter, it’s a nightmare. Also, where I go camping in Algonquin, the ground clearance is a benefit, especially when loaded up with my gear and a few people. Like I said, if it works for you great, but for my use case, the CRV is a much better utility vehicle than any sedan or wagon was for me.
The plow leavings are always a problem. I shovel and ice chisel the one at the end of the drive if it’s large. I could see the Algonquin thing being an issue. The kids are all gone now so we don’t need the extra capacity. Never did find the difference between the car and suv an issue. The wife does prefer the taller suv over the sedan. I’m the opposite, but for me it’s an issue of legroom as I’m very tall.
Ya and to be fair, in winter my Tercel and other FWD cars did fantastic, good tires make all the difference. As for leg room, I’d have to assume any vehicle has more legroom than that so it’s an upgrade lol
Oh no, we won’t get another 4 door liftback/hatchback/sedan EV. How about someone putting out an EV convertible? And, yes I do know that they would be less efficient, but who cares. My wife needs one to run around town in.
I need one to run around town in!
If I can’t get a wagon, then I really like the lift back format. You get the flexibility of the lift back which does add some height to the storage area but the drivability of a sedan. In reviews of the European market vehicle, it seemed pretty appealing, but the world is moving to crossovers so there may not be a large enough market.
I really like my S5 liftback. It’s as close as I can get to a spicy wagon. 160lbs worth of dogs will fit back there and I don’t have to put them in the main cabin. Not to mention all the space with the rear seats folded down. I’ve seen people use the larger space in the A7 for camping.
Yep, I don’t see this selling in volume. There’s a market, but it’s ever-shrinking.
I can’t find Arteon sales numbers for later than 2022, and even then, only for Europe. 22Kish units in 2022 for all of Europe, which was 725-740M in the time. So how many might sell in the US at this point? Barely 10K units a year?
So perhaps 250-300K units over a generation run? If the margin’s great, might be worth doing, but odds are there’s better places to put that money.
How much of that because is because its a sedan and how much of that is because it’s a VW?
Yes.