Volkswagen ID.2 to spawn new electric Golf and GTI hot hatch, say insiders

Volkswagen has radically altered its plans for the upcoming ID.2 electric hatchback and come up with a completely new exterior and interior design – which could be seen in concept car form in Europe next month.

Due in overseas showrooms in 2025 with a target price of €22,500 ($AU34,750), the five-seat hatchback could also wear the iconic Volkswagen Golf badge.

Insiders at Volkswagen's global headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, say a Golf GTI hot-hatch variant has also been discussed during recent internal strategy meetings for the new electric model.

The ID.2 is expected to be the first Volkswagen based on the new MEB-Plus platform – an updated version of today’s widely used MEB electric-car structure – but equipped with new lithium iron phosphate "prismatic" battery cells, delivering charging speeds of between 175kW and 200kW, among other developments.

MORE: Next Volkswagen Golf set to go electric

In place of the controversial SUV plans previewed by the ID.Life concept at the 2020 Munich motor show, the heavily revised Volkswagen ID.2 will receive more conventional hatchback styling developed by a team of designers working under the guidance of Volkswagen’s new styling boss, Andreas Mindt. 

The change in design direction comes after new Volkswagen brand CEO, Thomas Schäfer, rejected the ID.2’s original SUV styling proposal, which is credited to Mindt’s predecessor, Jozef Kaban. 

After months of internal debate over the design of the upcoming price-leading electric hatchback, Mr Kaban has accepted a new position in the Volkswagen brand’s design operations as creative art director.

MORE: Volkswagen ID. Life concept previews $30,000 electric car due in 2025

The decision to provide the ID.2 with a completely new look comes after Volkswagen performance offshoot Cupra revealed its uniquely styled version of its new electric vehicle, the UrbanRebel, with a hatchback shape.

The two models are planned to be produced alongside each other at Cupra parent company Seat’s Martorell factory near Barcelona in Spain, as indirect replacements for the Volkswagen e-Up and Seat Mii. A third model from Skoda is also expected to arrive at a later date.

One Volkswagen source familiar with the early proposals of the redesigned ID.2 hatchback says the vehicle is positioned in size and styling themes between the current Polo city hatch and Golf small hatch – with an overall length of “around 4250mm”.

With a relatively short bonnet and a flat floor, the VW ID.2 is said to offer “the sort of interior space of models typically one segment higher” than the VW Golf.

“We have great tradition and product strength in this segment. It is not a whole new beginning, but a logical continuation of what Volkswagen has excelled at in the past, albeit with electric drive,” the VW insider told Drive. 

The Volkswagen ID.2 is initially planned to be offered in single-motor, front-wheel drive form only. However, the MEB-Plus platform will eventually support dual-motor, all-wheel-drive models.

“It will be relatively lightweight by electric car standards, somewhere between 1600 and 1700kg,” the VW insider told Drive. 

Volkswagen’s plan to use the Golf name for the production version of the ID.2 electric hatchback was first hinted at by Mr Schäfer at the Los Angeles motor show in October 2022.  

At the time, he said: “The Golf name has huge value. The recognition it receives at [customer] clinics, people absolutely understand what we are talking about. So, to change the name to something completely different, doesn’t make sense.”

Initial suggestions were the Golf name may be reserved for a facelifted version of the ID.3. However, this is denied by Volkswagen sources, who say “the true values of the Golf lay in a car the size of the ID.2”. 

Whether it retains the ID. identification of other electric-powered Volkswagen models remains to be seen. One possibility put to Drive is the name ID. Golf.

In another significant development, Mr Schäfer is also said to have given the go-ahead for a return of the GTI badge on Volkswagen’s electric models. It is planned to replace the GTX badge introduced on the ID.4 in 2020.

“The GTX is dead,” a senior VW source told Drive. “A decision has already been made to replace it with the traditional GTI name, and it is being considered for the ID.2.”

A budget-priced, front-wheel drive, electric performance car with the GTI name mimics the philosophy of the original petrol-powered Golf GTI introduced in 1976, say insiders.

While a final decision on a GTI version of the ID.2 has not yet been made, there are suggestions a separate electric hot hatch concept car could be revealed at Volkswagen's annual Wӧrthersee GTI fan festival and car show in Austria in May 2023 – or the ID. fan festival planned to take place in Locarno, Switzerland, in September 2023.

The Cupra UrbanRebel unveiled in June 2022 reportedly provides a clue to the approach Volkswagen could take with the electric-powered Golf GTI, say company insiders. 

Fitted with a front-mounted electric motor, the most powerful version of the upcoming Cupra model is claimed to deliver 161kW and boast a 0 to 100km/h time of 6.9 seconds.

By comparison, today’s VW Golf GTI (with a turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engine with an output of 180kW) has an official 0-100km/h acceleration claim of 6.2 seconds.

Meanwhile, the reborn VW ID. 2 is also said to adopt a new-look interior with a cabin claimed to offer similar space to today’s VW Golf.

Additional changes centre around a new infotainment system. They include the provision for a rotary dial controller – a development that will initially appear on the third-generation Volkswagen Tiguan due to be unveiled later this year, Drive has been told.

The centre-console rotary dial – a first for a Volkswagen model – is designed to supplement touch screen controls, and is expected to replace the touch-sensitive 'slider' introduced on the ID.3 in 2020. 

The sweeping changes made to the upcoming VW ID.2 are part of a ‘comprehensive reset’ for the Volkswagen brand and its electric car strategy under new management. 

Together with the ID.2's redesign, the new Volkswagen CEO has also ordered a comprehensive reworking of the company’s Project Trinity, a new showcase model whose development began under the guise of Volkswagen’s former CEO, Hebert Diess.

Mr Schäfer is understood to have reservations about Project Trinity’s liftback-style sedan design. Now, Volkswagen designers are reportedly trying to reshape this car as an SUV to rival the Tesla Model Y.

The changes to the upcoming VW ID.2 and Project Trinity come as Mr Schäfer – who was previously in charge of Volkswagen’s South Africa operations before becoming chairman at Skoda and then being appointed CEO at Volkswagen – instigates a more product-driven business culture at Volkswagen than his predecessor Mr Diess, who was known for his obsession with cost-cutting and profitability over product. 

“It’s a balance, but in the end, it is the product that we are judged upon” a Volkswagen insider told Drive. “With the changes taking place, we want to get back to a position of strength with new cars reflecting traditional Volkswagen qualities, and with names that will be familiar to long-time customers and other new car buyers alike.”

Meantime, earlier speculation suggesting Volkswagen was preparing to produce the ID.2 in China at a factory operated in partnership with its joint venture partner Anhui Jianghuai Automobile (JAC), has been denied by the head of the company’s Chinese operations, former Volkswagen brand CEO, Ralf Brandstätter. 

Speaking to Chinese media earlier this month, Mr Brandstätter said, “Volkswagen plans to launch the ID.7 sedan in China, as well as a new model below the ID.4,” adding, “It won’t be the ID.2.”