By Chris Ward, March 10, 2025
I really do wonder what Volkswagen is doing with its EV strategy. In the opening PR gambit unveiling the new Every1 EV concept, Volkswagen admitted that by 2027, it will release nine new models, only four of which will be electric. By its own admission, VW is prioritizing internal combustion engines over electric vehicles while using EV concepts as a cover to extend the age of combustion engines. If this sounds stupid me, surely it must sound stupid to you. And it is.
Volkswagen is hesitant to put all its EV eggs in one basket and will continue to offer combustion engines, mild hybrids, hybrids, and pure EVs—effectively rendering the 2030 EV mandate unofficially dead. It was obvious that car manufacturers like VW would drag their feet on the 2030 EV mandate, as significant profits are at stake. However, that didn’t stop them from hiding behind environmental concerns.
Indeed, corporate concerns for environmental sustainability were never more than a way to appeal to an audience and a buying public worried about the environment. The ID Every1 concept city car represents corporate ligature—a strangulation device designed to keep you suffocated just long enough to distract you from VW’s continued reliance on the internal combustion engine, a technology it once vowed to disavow.
A short platform EV will never sell in huge numbers, for one the ID Every1 will have a limited range, no better than 150 miles, just ask Honda how sales of the Honda E fared, it was similar in scope and ambition but failed because of its limited 120 mile range. People aren’t buying short-range EVs—there’s no market for them, and one won’t magically appear in 2027. The ID Every1 is simply not for everyone.
