Volkswagen Reveals Shape of New Flagship Electric Vehicle

Volkswagen reveals the shape of its upcoming electric vehicle flagship in a darkened image released to media at an announcement of the German automaker’s Accelerate business strategy that calls for launch of at least one new EV per year until 2030.

Set to head Volkswagen’s ID. electric vehicle sub-brand, the new model will see U.S. sales in 2026 as a fastback-style sedan offering autonomous-driving functionality and what CEO Ralf Brandstätter describes as a “radical business model with downloadable services” to alter functionality according to the car owner’s desires.

Already in the early stages of development at the company’s Wolfsburg headquarters in Germany under the working title “Project Trinity,” the new ID.-badged model will act as an indirect electric-powered successor to the Volkswagen Phaeton aimed at rivaling the likes of the Mercedes-Benz EQE due to be unveiled in September.

Detailing the technology being readied for the future range-topping Volkswagen model, Brandstätter says it will offer Level 2 driver-assistance systems that likely will be upgraded to Level 4, allowing for autonomous driving functionality on certain roads by 2030.

Volkswagen sources tell WardsAuto “Project Trinity” will be based on a new platform that uses elements of both VW’s MEB structure and features from the PPE architecture being engineered by its sister Volkswagen Group companies, Audi and Porsche.

Brandstätter describes the leading ID. model as “our software dream car,” saying it will introduce an entirely new business model for the company, with a radically reduced number of variants.

He says buyers’ choices will be limited to battery size, paint color and wheel specification.

Under Volkswagen’s plans for the new model, owners will be able to activate and deactivate certain hardware functions when required, with various, as-yet-unspecified features offered as over-the-air software downloads.

“We’re going to radically reduce the number of variants,” Brandstätter says. “With Trinity, the hardware is largely unified: You select battery capacity, color and wheels and then order it on smartphone. The functions can be set as you go along; you can add features through your digital system.”

Brandstätter says offering functions such as upgrades means “Trinity is going to become a time machine.”

The autonomous systems will benefit from the new “neural network” Volkswagen is aiming to develop from its connected cars all sharing real-time data on roads, traffic and other systems.

The CEO adds Project Trinity is designed to “launch new technology in large volumes for the mainstream market…With Trinity, Volkswagen is once again bringing the future to series-production cars.”

The new model will be produced at Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg manufacturing base, with Brandstätter suggesting new processes being implemented there will “reinvent production as we know it today.”

He says the reduction in hardware required for EV production will dramatically decrease production times by reducing complexity and allowing the use of new production technology.

Volkswagen ACCELERATE rendering-EV at charger_1