Currently reading: New Volkswagen ID 3: UK orders open for electric hatchback
Special First Edition version of Volkswagen's crucial new EV goes on sale for customers who pre-booked
James Attwood, digital editor
News
4 mins read
22 July 2020

Sales of the pivotal Volkswagen ID 3 have begun in the UK today (22 July), with order books for special First Edition models opening to those who have pre-booked.

First deliveries of the electric hatchback are due to begin in the UK in September.

Autocar's Volkswagen ID 3 2020 review

The limited-run First Edition models will be priced from £38,880 and be offered only to people who have previously placed a £750 deposit. First Edition versions of the ID 3 will feature the mid-size 'Pro' battery offering a claimed range of 260 miles, and will feature special badges and extra kit. Buyers will also be offered 2000kWh of charging via We Charge, which Volkswagen claims is enough for 34 rapid charges and worth around £500.

General sales of the ID 3 are due to begin in the UK in the Autumn, and the model will eventually be offered in seven main variants, with three different battery capacities and two power outputs.

The late stages of the ID 3's development has been hit by well-publicised software issues, and the early cars delivered to customers in September will be without a number of software features, including the augmented-reality functions for the car's head-up display (although these won't be offered on initial UK models) and some of the App Connect features. A free software update wil be offered once the systems are available, while early buyers can also choose to delay receipt of their ID 3 until the systems are fully ready.

Speaking about the decision to launch the car before the full software system is available, Silke Bagschik, Volkswagen's e-mobility sales chief, said: "The software is not yet up to Volkswagen standards that we want to give to customers, but we wanted to give them the option of having the car and enjoying the driving experience of it as much as we are. And we will upgrade all the software when it's ready."

The electric hatchback will eventually be offered with three battery capacities and two power outputs. The First Edition model will use the mid-size 'Pro' 58kWh battery for a claimed range of 260 miles. It will offer 201bhp driven through the rear wheels, 229lb ft of torque and a top speed of 99mph. The car can be charged through a 100kW DC connection or a 11kW AC system.

The mid-size Pro battery will eventually be offered with two power outputs, with a lower 143bhp version that will be aorund two seconds slower to reach 0-62mph. 

The 45kWh Pure battery will be offered with outputs of 125bhp and 148bhp, while the largest 77kWh Pro S battery will use the 201bhp motor. Because of the extra weight of the battery, the Pro S model will only be offered with a four-seat layout.

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In Germany, the ID 3 First will be offered in three trim levels – basic, Plus and Max - although only the mid-level version will intially be offered in the UK.

The ID 3 First cars offered in the UK will feature 19in alloy wheels, 30-colour ambient lighting, heated seat and steering wheel, and matrix LED front and LED rear lights. The First models will feature an Exterior Style Silver pack featuring a silver roofline and grey sills and bumpers. Buyers can choose from four exterior colours and three interior schemes.

The UK-bound models will also come with a rear-view camera as standard, along with automatic cruise control, rear privacy glass and an anti-theft alarm. Notably, the mid-level ID 3 First models that will be offered in the UK at launch don't come with the top-level cockpit infotainment system that includes the head-up display. That means the only software upgrade UK buyers will require will be for the full App Connect features.

In continental Europe, buyers of the first cars to be delivered will be given membership of a 'First Movers' club, which will include the eventual software update, with those leasing cars not paying any rates for the first three months. It's not yet known whether any of these initiatives will be offered to UK buyers.

General ordering for the ID 3 for those who haven't pre-booked will open four weeks after the car first goes on sale. Volkswagen has yet to outline trim levels and pricing for those models, or when various power levels and battery sizes will be introduced.

Volkswagen offered a pre-ordering service for the ID 3 First, with more than 35,000 customers worldwide placing a refundable deposit. Those who placed a deposit in continental Europe will be able to buy their cars from 17 June onwards. The delay in the UK was due to the extra time required to gain type approval for right-hand-drive versions.

Volkswagen sales boss Jürgen Stackmann also insisted that ID 3 deliveries remained on track to begin this summer, despite the extended production suspension at Volkswagen's Zwickau plant due to Covid-19. 

“The focus of the company now is on ID 3,” said Stackmann. “We’re almost ready, and we just need a few more weeks to get the software to where we need it to be. The entire team are working on this topic, and we want to deliver a great quality product on time – and that time is this summer.”

Stackmann added that Volkswagen was still aiming to meet its target of building 100,000 ID 3s this year but that it might be unable to fully recover from the extended shutdown in the second half of the year.

Prices for the ID 3 in the UK will eventually start from around £27,500 before the government grant for the entry-level 45kWh Pure version. 

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Comments
19

14 May 2020

The Tesla Model 3 is making steady inroads into the UK market, and was even the bestselling car in Britain in April 2020 as the company's online sales method survived the onslaught of coronavirus lockdown that closed most other dealerships. Might be a sign of a new honest company taking over. At £40,490 it will likely sell like hot cakes and a 5.3 0-60 won't harm sales either. Maybe people have started to realize the possibility that an apocalypse can happen within a short space of time and they may have to travel by car etc etc BIK etc. 

14 May 2020
405line wrote:

The Tesla Model 3 is making steady inroads into the UK market, and was even the bestselling car in Britain in April 2020 as the company's online sales method survived the onslaught of coronavirus lockdown that closed most other dealerships. Might be a sign of a new honest company taking over. At £40,490 it will likely sell like hot cakes and a 5.3 0-60 won't harm sales either. Maybe people have started to realize the possibility that an apocalypse can happen within a short space of time and they may have to travel by car etc etc BIK etc. 

Another slow thinker, who imagines that 0-60 is the foremost quality in the mind of an ev buyer. How many drivers, irrespective of powertrain under the bonnet, drive most of their journeys at breakneck/dangerous/licence losing/gp traffic light dash speeds?.

 

How do hot cakes sell?. "an apocalypse, etc, what the h*** does that mean?. BIK etc, what does THAT mean?. You shouldn't bother posting unless you can make at least make yourself understood.

10 June 2020

Selling like hotcakes. ... It is simply a synonym for a pancake. For something to sell like a hotcake it must be bought in mass quantities with little effort on the part of the seller, usually so much so that it is hard to keep up with demand.

Apocalypse: an event involving destruction or damage on a catastrophic scale.

What is BIK?Any benefit that you can use in your personal time as well as during business hours, such as a vehicle, is considered a perk and HMRC will require you to pay tax. The type of tax HMRC requires you to pay is called benefit-in-kind, which is often abbreviated to BIK

10 June 2020
405line wrote:

The Tesla Model 3 is making steady inroads into the UK market, and was even the bestselling car in Britain in April 2020 

I cant believe people actually fell for that bollocks, on paper it was, inreality it certainly wasnt, the best selling car for decades, month after month has been the Fiesta, Telsa 3 sales have been nowhere near it, except in the minds of Tesla fanboys and some dodgy figures. Tesla is not even a member of the SMMT, its now the middle of the year, and Tesla do not even figure in the top 10 of this year to date..  According to the latest figure from the SMMT YTD (Year to date) the number 1 seller is the Fiesta with 16,712 sales, the 10th best is the Polo with 7,645, and as I stated Tesla do not figure in the top 10..  

22 July 2020
405line wrote:

The Tesla Model 3 is making steady inroads into the UK market, and was even the bestselling car in Britain in April 2020 as the company's online sales method survived the onslaught of coronavirus lockdown that closed most other dealerships. Might be a sign of a new honest company taking over. At £40,490 it will likely sell like hot cakes and a 5.3 0-60 won't harm sales either. Maybe people have started to realize the possibility that an apocalypse can happen within a short space of time and they may have to travel by car etc etc BIK etc. 

Is this the same "honest" company who market driver assistance aids misleadingly as "Autopilot" dangerously suggesting that their cars can drive themselves when they cant ? The same "honest" company who likes to disable some paid for features of its cars when owners sell them on ? The same "honest" company that likes to mess some customers around and sell them below par cars . . . eventually ? Even some of their biggest fans know just how sh*t they can be (see Rich Rebuild's youtube channel). So much for an "honest" company.

10 June 2020

Its obviously a very good product, its already taken second place in Autocar's top ten affordable electric cars.

10 June 2020

The iD3 already looks as purposeful and confident as the original Golf.

In terms of design and perception it's a success, let's hope it also delivers technologically.

10 June 2020

An electric Golf that will compete with its ICE Golf.  VW is basically competing with itself - not good for the bottom line as a company.  But as long as they are moving towards electric mobility and away from fossil fuels, it is good for humanity.

22 July 2020
FRI2 wrote:

An electric Golf that will compete with its ICE Golf.  VW is basically competing with itself - not good for the bottom line as a company. 

It's been very good for them for many years now - hence also having Seat, Skoda, and Audi. Each offers variations on the same core products in order to capture as much of the market as possible. There are people who would buy (for example) a Leon, but wouldn't buy an A3. In the same way there will be people who wouldn't buy an ICE Golf, but would buy an ID3, and vice-versa.

22 July 2020
Sporky McGuffin wrote:

FRI2 wrote:

An electric Golf that will compete with its ICE Golf.  VW is basically competing with itself - not good for the bottom line as a company. 

It's been very good for them for many years now - hence also having Seat, Skoda, and Audi. Each offers variations on the same core products in order to capture as much of the market as possible. There are people who would buy (for example) a Leon, but wouldn't buy an A3. In the same way there will be people who wouldn't buy an ICE Golf, but would buy an ID3, and vice-versa.

There are also people that would run a mile from buying ANYTHING from the VW stable, whatever badge has been cynically pinned on the front.

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