"We want to launch with a solid price position that we don't have to slash": Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.5 delayed to achieve better price for Tesla Model Y and Hyundai Ioniq 5 rival

Volkswagen has delayed the arrival of its ID.4 and ID.5 electric cars from July/August to the fourth quarter – October to December inclusive – of this year. 

It’s not the first time the Tesla Model Y and Hyundai Ioniq 5 rivals have had arrival delays, but what’s behind the push back? “It comes down to the pricing that we mentioned before”, said VW Australia General Manager of Marketing and Product Ralph Beckmann.

“We want to launch with a solid price position that we don’t have to slash two months down the track and it will be worth it.”

“You’ve seen it in the Touareg result today. The initial price we got for Touareg was nowhere near [$129,990], in fact we said ‘at that price we're not taking it,’” explained Beckmann at the Touareg facelift’s national media launch.  

Don’t expect the ID.4 to undercut Tesla’s frighteningly low $55,000 before on-road costs Model Y RWD starting price, though. Ralph is clear that Volkswagen won’t engage in “price wars” with Chinese-made electric cars including Tesla and BYD. 

We still have no word on final price, which will be revealed mid-year when the brand finally opens orders for ID.4 and its ID.5 coupe siblings. VW is currently holding 7000 expressions of interest for the pair of electric SUVs. 

ID.4 will arrive in updated guise.

“Pre-sale will start in the middle of the year. People can put in their order and we’ll be feeding the actual customer orders into the first production run at the factory as well rather than us planning mixes and assuming certain line-ups”, said Beckmann. 

He noted that the Golf has never been the price leader in its segment and the ID.4 won’t be. Value will be important, though. This will be amped by a partnership with fuel seller Ampol. 

Tie-in with Ampol means better charge pricing.

Although full details remain a little bit of a mystery, the deal will make for better prices at the AmpCharge network for VW owners. There’s also a home wallbox which can be colour-matched to your car, with ID owners getting lower pricing than the average customer. 

Along with a ‘sustainable’ price, Volkswagen’s certified pre-owned program and 103-strong dealer network (99 per cent of which will have public fast-charge points on their premises by end of year), VW Australia believes it will keep residual values higher than rivals. 

Interior gets 12.9-inch touchscreen.

The ID.4 and ID.5s arriving will be the upgraded models. A bigger 12.9-inch touchscreen and revised cabin controls join a more efficient 210kW motor for up to 540km WLTP driving range. 

While we thought $70K for the ID.4 base model would be realistic, the new tune being sung by a now head office-supported VW Australia suggests a trim featuring adaptive dampers could creep closer to $60K by the time it goes on sale later this year. 

Slow arrival of ID.4 means better pricing

Ultimately, Volkswagen Australia’s goal is to offer myriad options the $60-85K medium SUV space with customers able to cross shop the Tiguan, forthcoming Tiguan plug-in hybrid, the Tiguan Allspace-replacing Tayron and ID.4 to see what suits them best.

To meet looming New Vehicle Emissions Standards numbers (NVES), VW Australia anticipates a circa-50 per cent fully electric sales share by 2028 with plug-in hybrids also lowering the fleet emissions figure.