Volkswagen has revealed its updated ID.4 and ID.5 electric SUVs, which boast more power and updated technology.
They’ll arrive here in July 2024, with both the ID.4 SUV and ID.5 coupe SUV offered in two variants each.
The rear-wheel drive entry-level ID.4 and ID.5 in Australia will feature a new rear-mounted electric motor with 210kW of power and 545Nm of torque.
This replaces a less powerful 150kW/310Nm single-motor powertrain.
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The flagship dual-motor all-wheel drive GTX variants also gain this new electric motor, with a total system output of 250kW – up 30kW. GTX models are good for a claimed 0-100km/h time of 5.4 seconds.
Volkswagen has also given the GTX’s optional adaptive suspension revisions, promising a greater spread between comfort and dynamics.
Range has been improved, with the 210kW rear-wheel drive models boasting 550km (ID.4) or 556km (ID.5) of WLTP range, increases of 17km and 11km, respectively.
These variants’ 77kWh battery can be charged at up to 135kW using DC power, unchanged from the outgoing model, however GTX models’ charging capacity has been bumped from 135kW to 175kW.
Volkswagen claims combined energy consumption of 15.9kWh-18.4kWh per 100km in the 210kW ID.4 and 15.5kWh-18kWh per 100km in the 210kW ID.5.
This increases to 16.7-18.7kWh per 100km in the ID.4 GTX and 16.2-18.6kWh per 100km in the ID.5 GTX.
Volkswagen says all ID.4 and ID.5 models have new charging and thermal management to ensure the battery is pre-conditioned ahead of a DC charging stop.
Inside, there have been a raft of changes made to address criticism of recent Volkswagen interiors.
The touch sliders for the air-conditioning and volume controls are now illuminated, while there’s a multi-function steering wheel with “new operating logic”.
The touchscreen is now a larger 12.9-inch unit with a “completely new” menu structure and a new voice assistant with natural voice commands and cloud-based information.
Available equipment includes an augmented reality head-up display and a 10-speaker Harman Kardon 480W sound system. All models have a standard digital instrument cluster.
In Europe, Volkswagen isn’t increasing the prices of the Pro and GTX models despite the improvements made to them.
Volkswagen Australia has yet to announce pricing for the electric SUVs.
“The medium SUV segment is so important to Volkswagen and to our level of competitiveness. We are going directly after the Tesla Model Y,” Volkswagen Australia product and PR communications manager for Volkswagen Australia, Daniel DeGasperi, told CarExpert earlier this year.
“We’re very unequivocal about that. And we think we will have the better engineered, the better driving car and the more fully featured car.
“We don’t want to launch with limited supply … we are a volume brand. We’re not going to launch the ID. 4 with limited volume.
“So that will go into dealers, our big dealer network around Australia, and that’s one of the benefits we think we will have against that particular competitor I mentioned [Model Y] – that we have a really strong competitor and [VW dealers] will all be ready for day one … in terms of being able to sale sell and service those vehicles.”
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