What's the news?
Volkswagen has confirmed long-circulating rumours that it's going to bring a roughly Golf-sized electric car concept to the Paris Motor Show, and that it previews a production model due to go on sale in 2020.
With this being the first anniversary of the breaking of the 'Dieselgate' scandal, and with recriminations and lawsuits still dogging Volkswagen, the biggest car maker in Europe is keen to put its best for forward with a new model for which it is making some pretty astonishing claims. "As revolutionary as the Beetle" and "the potential to make history" are phrases which have already been used. Can any car live up to such expectations?
Well, we know for certain that both concept and production model will use the MEB platform, Volkswagen's electric-specific chassis, which stores all its batteries under the floor and uses compact electric motors. So while this concept will probably be a little smaller than the Golf, it should have significantly more interior space. We also know that the same structure is shared with the Microbus-style BUDD-e concept which was shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and that car boasted a 500km one-charge range, something which would put the electric Volkswagen in front of all but Tesla in the range anxiety race.
Will the new hatch have that kind of range? It could have even more. Volkswagen insiders have confirmed that the structure can house sufficient battery capacity to go for a possible 600km on one charge, but it's much more likely that the hatch will have less than that, to keep its price under control. Volkswagen's engineering staff have recently been talking about a circa-400km range being the tipping point at which people for whom electric cars aren't flexible enough start to take notice, so expect something like that. It would put the new Volkswagen in front of the Opel Ampera-e, which has a roughly 380km maximum range and well ahead of the Nissan Leaf's 250km range.
Inside, the cabin will most likely draw strongly on that of the BUDD-e concept, which used big touchscreen displays with gesture control for most systems. Jurgen Stackmann, one of Volkswagen's senior board members, said in a statement that the car will be "a lighthouse to show you where we are heading as a brand."
Will it be enough to put the trials of the last 12 months behind Volkswagen? We'll find out in Paris in two weeks...