VW announced today that it will delay the release of its ID.7 sedan in the US, setting no specific date for when the vehicle will be available.
The ID.7 is VW’s upcoming electric sedan, which has already started sales in Europe and in China.
In March we learned about prospective trim levels for the flagship “near-luxury” sedan. And last year, we had a drive in the ID.7’s European trim and quite liked it.
While we didn’t learn pricing or range information, that was supposed to come out in Q3, closer to when the vehicle will launch. A launch date hadn’t yet been announced, but the car was intended to come to North America in the 2025 model year.
But today VW says that it is delaying that launch indefinitely due to “market conditions.”
VW failed to specify which market conditions it was referring to, but we have some suspicions.
Manufacturers have a belief that Americans only want SUVs (or so they say – really, this is at least partially driven by emissions rules), and the ID.7 is not one. When we first saw the ID.7 it was in the guise of the “Space Vizzion” concept, VW said it “combines the aerodynamic qualities of a Gran Turismo with the generous interior space of an SUV” – trying to leverage Americans’ supposed desire only for land yachts by portraying a somewhat more sensible wagon as something it’s not.
That concept got turned into the ID.7 Tourer station wagon, and the ID.7 sedan is the sedan version of the same platform.
So VW may be responding to this belief, thinking that Americans won’t want a sedan.
Another possibility is that VW EV sales are not going great. VW has never been as strong in the US as it is in the rest of the world, but EVs offer a fresh playing field for them to hope to move into new markets. In a rapidly growing North American EV market, which grew some 13% in Q1 compared to the year prior, VW actually saw a sales decrease of 3% – one of few brands to see such a dip.
Part of this is due to upcoming new models, like the newly-released ID.4 2024 update which has so many improvements it feels more like a mid-cycle refresh than a simple model year update. The VW ID.Buzz, which we finally got some details on last week, is also expected later this year.
Buyers might be waiting for these new models (or for VW to add NACS connectors) before committing to a new car.
But one of those upcoming new models was also the ID.7, which as we now know will be delayed. Some buyers might have been waiting for it, but we won’t know now how popular it might have been until it finally does make its way to the US. And if sales aren’t strong elsewhere, opening another new market might have helped.
But according to VW, the ID.7 “has become an industry standard winning various international awards.” It also says that demand for the ID.7 Tourer is “higher than expected, especially in Germany.” So perhaps this, combined with a disappointing start of sales in China where domestic brands are capturing increasingly more of the market, has caused VW to bring its focus back homewards for the time being, and it got cold feet about opening another new market if things are going well enough at home.
