Tech
Volkswagen's new all-electric SUV is sporty and powerful
The ID.5 GTX is another step toward Volkswagen's goal of being carbon-neutral by 2050.
Volkswagen has spent the last couple of years working overtime to ramp up production of its electric vehicles, with the goal of making 1.5 million EVs by 2025. This week the German automaker unveiled one of the new vehicles it hopes to use toward this goal: a fully electric SUV called the ID.5 GTX. And no, this one’s not a joke.
The automaker is marketing the ID.5 GTX as the intersection of efficiency and “elegant athleticism,” with four-wheel drive, two electric engines, and a range of up to 497 kilometers (about 309 miles). The SUV is set to make its “near-production” debut at the IAA’s Munich Motor Show in early September (h/t SlashGear).
Besides the obvious (that very odd orange-and-yellow camoflage paint job on pre-production models), the ID.5 GTX is notable in that it’s the first SUV to use Volkswagen’s proprietary Modular Electric Drive (MEB) matrix. The company has been developing the MEB system since 2015, and it’s now central to Volkswagen’s EV lineup.
Sweet ride — We haven’t seen any of the ID.5 GTX’s interior just yet — we’ll likely have to wait for its full unveiling next month for that — but what Volkswagen’s shown us of the exterior is very sleek and modern... as you’d expect from an EV of this quality in 2021.
The front of the car uses IQ.Light LED matrix headlights, which Volkswagen says generate an “intelligently controlled high beam” for a “likable” look. There’s also a light strip up front with illuminated honeycombs on both sides of the SUV.
Overall, Volkswagen definitely leaned into a sportier look. The ID.5 GTX is meant to be a continuation of the company's GTI, GTD, and GTE lines, and, as such, it’s meant to represent the brand’s “new athleticism.”
Time to accelerate — The world is very ready for electric vehicles. Even the United States, generally a bit lax on the side of electric vehicle reform, has set itself a goal of producing at least 50 percent zero-emissions vehicles by 2030, and electric charging points form part of the infrastructure bill passed this week. In Germany, where Audi is headquartered, upwards of a million charging stations should be available across the country by the end of the decade, and the European Union is set to ban all fossil-fuel vehicles by 2035.
Volkswagen’s goal is for 70 percent of its sales to be all-electric vehicles by 2030. More broadly, the company hopes to be entirely carbon-neutral by 2050. We’d expect this vehicle to be the first of many similar announcements in the near future as the company looks toward hitting its ambitious goals.
The first all-electric VW vehicle, the ID.4, went on sale in the U.S. earlier this year at a starting price of $40,000, burt the ID.5 GTX, with its sporty trim and handling, will likely be a bit more expensive.
