The New Volkswagen ID, driving us all to distraction

Intentionally driving you to distraction is the Volkswagon ID, the latest concept vehicle that has just recently been unveiled at the Paris Motor Show. Industry critics believe that the battery electric vehicle has been developed to distract us from last year’s “Dieselgate” of the emissions cheating scandal. Yet, even if that is the case, we don’t mind going along for the ride, as this is one rad looking car with some quirky perks to boot.

While not planned to go into production until 2020, the ID is expected to have a 400 - 600 kilometer range that is produced from a 125kW battery. It is also the first car to be installed with Volkswagen's own Modular Electric Drive (MEB) platform, creating well grounded expectations that there will be more pure electric models to follow.

Also in the pipelines are plans for the production of a series of autonomous driving cars. The marque announced that the first of its self driving vehicles is to be available in 2025 with steering wheels that will retract into the dash once the car is put into autonomous mode.

Looking a lot like one of their best selling vehicles, the Golf, but with a futuristic face lift, other features of the ID are to include a trunk that also functions as a mobile mailbox. While this indeed sounds bizarre the idea is that package delivery agents will be able to locate the car using GPS. Using an app, the delivery agent will be able to temporarily open the trunk to deposit packages, where upon the car’s owner is notified and the trunk is locked again.  

All this technological innovation might come in an effort to salvage Volkswagen's smeared reputation, but then the emission scandal appears to be a lesson learnt. The ID concept represents just part of the company’s concrete plans towards producing emissions friendly vehicles, which should represent 20-25% of the company’s sales by 2025.