- The Volkswagen ID. Cross Concept was unveiled ahead of the IAA Munich auto show in Germany today.
- It represents an evolution beyond VW’s past ID electric cars, moving things in a much more conventional direction.
- As a counterpart to the popular gas-powered T-Cross, it’s a small urban crossover with lots of interior space.
The announcement begins with quite the flex: “Volkswagen, the largest supplier of electric cars in Germany and Europe in 2025…” Maybe we should let this company spike the football, or whatever the equivalent European sporting term is. After all, you still have to get up pretty early in the morning if you’re going to take down Tesla or any of the rising Chinese electric-vehicle newcomers.
But for its next act, Volkswagen’s EV game is about to seem a lot more conventional than its past lineup of ID. cars.
Meet the Volkswagen ID. Cross Concept. It’s probably our clearest vision yet of how VW is imagining its second generation of modern EVs: much more normal-looking, in line with existing models that VW customers love, and with—hopefully—fewer of the experimental designs and control issues on past cars that few people warmed up to. And, even more importantly, a host of improvements to batteries, software and the EV platform itself.
Volkswagen ID. Cross Concept
Photo by: Volkswagen
“The near-production concept car of the ID. Cross demonstrates that we are now truly delivering—with a new design, many technologies only seen in higher classes previously, improved operability and quality—and, at last, again the ‘right’ name,” VW brand CEO Thomas Schäfer said in a news release.
Gallery: Volkswagen ID. Cross Live Photos
The “Cross” in the name is a deliberate reference to the Volkswagen T-Cross. While not sold in North America, that compact combustion-powered crossover is now one of VW’s best-selling models in Europe and other markets. This is VW attempting to run the same playbook, except with electric power. And it’s not just some battery-swapped version of that car—it uses the MEB+ platform, an improved version of the architecture that underpins familiar EVs like the ID.4, ID.7 and the rest.
Volkswagen ID. Cross Live Photos
Photo by: Patrick George
And like the ID. Polo previewed this past week, the ID. Cross shows that future EVs won’t be standalone models like the first ID. cars, but rather all-electric versions of known commodities. We’ve known this was coming for a while. The next ID.4, if it even keeps that name, will look more like an electric Tiguan than the overly sleek spaceship it is now. And an electric ID. Golf is confirmed to be in the works too.
In doing so, VW follows a pattern we’ve seen or are seeing from several other automakers, including Chevrolet, Mercedes-Benz and BMW: the next generation of EVs will be much more normal-looking and aimed at more mainstream audiences than their Tesla-esque future-mobiles once tried to be.
Volkswagen ID. Cross Live Photos
Photo by: Patrick George
If the cabin on the ID. Cross is any indication, that means a lot of the UX issues with VW’s current electric cars really are on the way out. The concept packs tons of actual, physical buttons instead of the frustrating haptic slider controls on the ID.4 and the rest.
Volkswagen ID. Cross Live Photos
Photo by: Patrick George
And look! It even has four full window switches, not just two and a button that makes you toggle between the front and rear ones. What an achievement for EV technology. What a time to be alive. In all seriousness, it is good to see VW listen to customer feedback and reverse a trend that was often driven by the preferences of customers in China but not loved in the West. That, and European safety tests are forcing the automakers to do this, because study after study proves that buttons are safer to operate at speed than touchscreen or haptic controls.
As for the ID. Cross itself, it seems impressive for the affordable small crossover segment it’s playing in. VW says the model will be front-wheel-drive, deliver about 208 horsepower and be capable of up to 420 kilometers (260 miles) of range on Europe’s WLTP testing cycle. Nothing mind-blowing, but appropriate for a European city car like its T-Cross counterpart. And it’s handsome, too; the LED light bars front and rear give it a nice EV touch while the rest of it stays fairly conventional. This is one of the “more likable” designs VW’s been talking about lately.
Volkswagen ID. Cross Live Photos Photo by: Patrick George
One other improvement over existing ID. cars as well: a proper frunk with 25 liters (0.8 cubic feet) of additional storage. While not huge, that’s a nice upgrade over the “nothing” you get on today’s electric Volkswagens.
No need to play “Will they build it?” with this concept. This is a “production-ready” model that will launch for real in 2026. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but Volkswagen says it’ll be “attractive,” which it must be in order to fend off BYD and other Chinese EV newcomers going after its customers in Europe.
And while a European-made electric SUV this size is probably never making its way to North America, if it serves as a preview for what’s next from VW’s EVs, we can expect this brand to get back to its roots. Maybe sometimes progress means going backwards just a bit.
Gallery: Volkswagen ID. Cross Concept
Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com
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