American customers will not have the first all-electric Volkswagen. Period. Mostly because they are not very fond of hatchbacks. We cannot say the same about Canada. It is precisely because of that that the company considers selling the ID.3 in that country.
“I will say that, in the Canadian marketplace, we are taking a very, very, very close look at this car. We are giving it due consideration to bring it into Canada only,” Thomas Tetzlaff, spokesman for Volkswagen Canada, told The Globe And Mail.
Gallery: Volkswagen ID.3 Live In Frankfurt - 2019
Volkswagen bets big on hatchbacks in the north and there is a curious story that shows that. There was a time when the fourth-generation Golf was still produced only in Brazil after a restyling. The German company sold it in Canada as the Golf City.
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With that in mind, there is surely room for the ID.3 among Canadian fans. The bad news for them is that the car will only be in dealerships, if it manages to get there, after the ID.4 appears.
The electric crossover will officially appear in February 2020 at the Chicago Auto Show. Production will happen at VW’s Chattanooga plant. We expect to see it for sale by the middle of 2020, so Canadians will only have the ID.3 by the end of 2020. In case everything goes as planned.
The only issue this may bring regards to what will be left for the ID.3 when it finally arrives. Especially after Volkswagen said it would be priced like the Tiguan, which costs $24,295. We have tried to understand exactly what that means with a recent article.
We understand VW is afraid its electric hatchback could sell very little in the US, but weren’t they also afraid of that happening with the Beetle? We believe the issue may be another one.
The tax credit for EVs remains at $7,500 for the first 200,000 EVs sold by each manufacturer. Producing the ID.4 in the US, the company will probably want it to have as much incentive as possible. With a lower price tag, the ID.3 would sell very reasonably despite its body type.
In other words, VW is probably concerned about the success of the ID.3, not about an eventual flop. Selling it in Canada would not pose the same issues. Or would it? Canadian readers, let us know what you think. Everybody else is invited to comment as well.
Source: The Globe And Mail