Volkswagen lays out details of planned affordable electric car

BERLIN: Volkswagen laid out on Wednesday the details of a planned all-electric car costing under 25,000 euros ($26,790), part of the German carmaker's push to derive 80% of VW passenger brand sales in Europe from all-electric vehicles by 2030.

The car with a 450-km range (280 miles), to launch in Europe by 2025, will be the first on Volkswagen's modular electric platform to feature a front-wheel drive, with design elements that hark back to the first Golf, VW said in a statement.

The battery will charge from 10% to 80% in around 20 minutes, with the car's top speed hitting 160 km per hour.

"We are implementing the transformation at pace to bring electric mobility to the masses," VW brand chief Thomas Schaefer said in a statement.

The carmaker is also working on another electric car available for under 20,000 euros, it said, without providing further details.

Volkswagen unveils all-electric ID. Buzz

In 2022, Volkswagen unveiled a production version of its long-awaited ID. Buzz van in Paris — an electric reincarnation of its Microbus or Kombi — due to go on sale in a number of European countries in the third quarter of 2022.

The van will also launch in the United States in late 2023, the German automaker said in a statement, adding it is the first in a series of prototypes released in the past decade to successfully make it to the production stage.

Made in Hanover with modules supplied mostly by Volkswagen Group Components in Germany, the vehicle runs on an 82 kWh lithium-ion battery and can reach a maximum speed of 90 miles an hour, Volkswagen said.

Other versions with batteries offering different power outputs will follow next year, the company said.