Volkswagen plans to become one of Australia’s top-selling electric-vehicle brands within a year of launching its first battery-powered model, if it gets support from head office in Germany.
Up to 5000 examples of the 2024 Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.5 electric SUVs could be available in Australia in its first 12 months in showrooms – starting from late next year.
While brands such as Hyundai and Kia have only secured a few hundred examples of their flagship electric cars for Australia each year, German auto giant Volkswagen says its first electric vehicles – due by the end of next year – will hopefully be in good supply.
“We’re trying to get really good volume. Between ID.4 and ID.5 together, we’re looking at that 5000 in the first year mark,” Volkswagen Australia’s head of passenger-car product, Michelle Rowney, told Drive last week.
If 5000 vehicles are earmarked for Australia in the first year – from late 2023 to late 2024 – the ID.4 and ID.5 could together rank among Volkswagen’s most popular models in Australia.
Across standard and stretched Allspace bodies, 4160 Tiguans have been reported as sold locally since the start of 2022 – though parts shortages mean factories are not running at maximum capacity.
In the model’s best year in Australia – 2019, prior to the pandemic – Volkswagen reported more than 12,000 Tiguans as sold. Its top seller that year was the Golf (15,000 sales), with the Amarok (8400) and Polo (5700) occupying the third and fourth positions.
Tesla is the best-selling electric-car brand in Australia, and has delivered about 14,000 cars. In a distant second place is Hyundai, with about 2000 electric vehicles sold over the first nine months of the year.
But by the time the ID.4 and ID.5 arrive in Australian showrooms at the end of next year, Volkswagen expects the delays facing the car industry today – shipping restrictions and the ongoing semiconductor shortage – to ease.
“There are production challenges, like with battery availability, all of that is well known. But we do expect that to improve [by the time ID.4 and ID.5 launch] so we’re not focused on that,” Ms Rowney told Drive.
“We expect production will improve, that we will get the [ID.4/ID.5] production that we ask for.
“But with the demand in Europe with their governments and CO2 [rules]… we’ve had challenges here to get on the list [to get production slots for the ID electric cars], but we are starting to overcome all of that, which is great,” said Ms Rowney.
The Volkswagen executive is referring to strict emissions standards in Europe, which have prompted European car makers such as Volkswagen to prioritise production of their electric vehicles for their home regions to lower the average CO2 emissions of their vehicle fleets.
As a result, by the time the ID.4 goes on sale in Australia, it will be three years old in Europe – and once the ID.3 hatchback follows in 2024, coinciding with its mid-life facelift, it will be more than four years old overseas.
In contrast to Volkswagen’s planned flood of electric cars, Kia Australia could only secure 700 examples of its EV6 electric SUV for Australia in 2022 – while Hyundai Australia has delivered about 1000 Ioniq 5s, sold online in monthly allocations of about 100 cars each.
As reported earlier this week, the Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.5 are due in showrooms in late 2023, initially in a limited choice of high-end model grades, priced from about $60,000 plus on-road costs. Click here for more details.
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