Volkswagen AG announces plans for full-size EV SUV

The rapidly growing range of Volkswagen electric vehicles is set to become even bigger after the German manufacturer announced it plans to bring a full-size SUV into its model line-up.

In line with the rest of its EVs, the new vehicle will be called the ID.8 and is planned to be the size of the North American and Chinese market's Atlas, a car which we don't receive in Australia.

If it is based around the dimensions of the Atlas, it will be a larger vehicle than the internal combustion engine-powered Touareg and the ID.4, – the latter of which is VW's second EV due to arrive in Australia next year.

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The VW ID.4 is loosely based around the Tiguan's dimensions and remains the only VW EV to be confirmed for Australia

Plans for the ID.8 were revealed by the VW Group's chairman of the board of management, Herbert Diess, after his speech earlier in the week at the New Auto presentation, outlining the manufacturer's electric ambitions in the near future.

Posting on his LinkedIn account, Diess shared a list of VW's current models and their EV equivalents, with the Golf already having a partner in the ID.3, the Tiguan with the ID.4 and ID.5, T7 and the ID.Buzz and the Passat and the ID.6 (not coming to Australia or Europe).

The ID.8 was listed alongside the Atlas, though there was no mention of which platform would underpin it, whether it would be the MEB (which acts as an alternative to the Atlas, Golf and Tiguan's MQB architecture) or the freshly announced Scalable Systems Platform (SSP), revealed at the presentation as Volkswagen's universal electric platform.

Volkswagen is aiming to phase out ICE cars completely by 2035 in Europe, in line with a proposed EU plan to outlaw fossil fuel vehicles from 2035.

Asked whether the ID.8 or other members of the ID range will be heading Down Under, a spokesperson for Volkswagen Australia told WhichCar:

“All VGA brands are doing the utmost to make cases for PHEVs and EVs. The EV strategy announced by the NSW Government is the model of what ought to be adopted uniformly and nationally. Victoria’s ham-fisted, cash grabbing excuse for an EV policy is the very antithesis of common sense.“So while it’s premature for us to estimate the arrival of specific models, Volkswagen in Australia would very much like to introduce the ID.4 to commence its zero emission vehicles roll out."