The VW ID.3 - Volkwagen's Most Important Car In Years - Opens Up Reservations

Volkswagen has taken a page out of Tesla's book, and thrown open reservations on the new VW ID.3 all-electric city car. The first model to use VW's new electric car platform, the ID.3 will begin a huge push by the automaker into electrification. Indeed, the goal is more than 100,000 vehicles being delivered per year.

We knew VW had a compact electric hatchback in the pipeline. Now, we know the specifications and price guidance. The ID.3 will be offered in three forms, differentiated by battery size and thus range.

At the entry-level, there'll be a battery expected to get around 205 miles on the WLTP cycle (EPA figures have not been given, though are likely to be less than the WLTP numbers). That'll be priced at under 30,000 euro ($33,650) before any subsidies or incentives.

In the middle, there'll be an ID.3 capable of roughly 261 miles on a full charge. VW expects that to be the most popular battery size. Finally, there'll be a 342 mile battery option.

VW is kicking things off with a limited-edition version of the electric hatchback, the VW ID.3 1ST. That will be based on the medium-sized battery, and fitted with larger wheels and more options checked off. For example, there'll be voice control and navigation, as standard. An ID.3 1ST Plus will get more lighting and a bi-color exterior and interior.

Finally, there'll be the ID.3 1ST Max. That gets a panoramic glass roof and an augmented reality head-up display. All ID.3 1ST buyers get up to 2,000 kWh of charging on the We Charge and IONITY charging networks for the first year.

Production of the car is expected to begin in late 2019. Deliveries, meanwhile, will begin from mid-2020, VW says. Reservations are being taken now, with a refundable 1,000 euro ($1,122) deposit. Only 30,000 of the 1ST edition cars will be made.

Reservations will be taken in 29 European markets. VW says it expects Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, France, the UK, and Austria to be where the EV is most popular. However the US won't get the car, with Volkswagen of America deciding that a compact electric hatchback simply wouldn't be in demand.

This isn't Volkswagen's first all-electric car, but it's undeniably the most important. While VW may have had the e-Golf and other pure-electric vehicles before, the ID.3 debuts the new MEB platform. That's the custom architecture for electric vehicles which will underpin multiple models across all of VW Group's brands.

Indeed, VW says it's aiming for more than 20 pure-electric models by 2025, amid sales of more than a million vehicles each year. That, it suggests, would make it the number one brand globally. As we found out in Geneva earlier this year, all of the cars in this new Volkswagen family will bear the ID. nameplate.

After the ID.3, there'll be other vehicles based on Volkswagen's previously-shown electric concept cars. That includes the ID. CROZZ crossover, the ID. VIZZION sedan, and the ID. ROOMZ SUV. Each will get model numbers, VW says, the automaker using the numerics to indicate space above and below the ID.3 in its new line-up.