The veteran Volkswagen e-up!, a small 100% electric city car, will stay alive. The increase in demand for cheap electric vehicles obliges Volkswagen to keep this model in its portfolio as its long-awaited new-generation successor materializes.
In a normal situation the Volkswagen e-up! he would have left the market through the back door a long time ago. This urban car with fully electric mechanics has many years of commercial experience behind it. However, the shortage of supply added to the increase in demand for cheap electric cars practically forces Volkswagen to keep this veteran model in its portfolio, which, under other conditions, would have already undergone a generational change.
The commercial success of the e-up! it is unquestionable. Unfortunately, a limited production capacity has been the great stumbling block for the Volkswagen model to have reaped even higher sales figures. These production problems have resulted in real ups and downs in the commercial journey of the e-up! as well as its direct alternatives, the SEAT Mii electric and the Skoda Citigo iV.
Volkswagen will keep the e-up alive! due to high demand
But, beyond this question, which is not trivial, as well as the limitations of a model that is far from the technological level of a new generation electric vehicle, Volkswagen is determined to keep this model in its portfolio. The records that models like the Dacia Spring are harvesting show that there is a emerging market for cheap electric vehicles.
Citizens who live in large cities with strict traffic restrictions have seen these small electric cars as the ideal solution for urban mobility. In a statement sent by the brand to a German digital medium, they highlight that the e-up! will be reintroduced in the ordering program and therefore kept in the range: «We temporarily withdraw the e-up! of the market in 2020 because delivery times increased drastically due to high demand. Now it’s been decided reintroduce the e-up! in the order program».
In Germany, the main European market for the e-up!, dealers are about to start accepting orders for Volkswagen’s cheaper electric car. A model that, thanks to the government incentives available in German territory, has a final price that is close to €15,000.
Sales of the Volkswagen e-up! in Europe
The e-up! harvested in 2021 a total of 41,400 units registered, which allowed it to be the fifth best-selling electric vehicle in the Volkswagen Group. It was very close to such relevant models as the Skoda Enyaq iV or even the Audi e-tron. And although by very little, it surpassed the Porsche Taycan.
In the specific case of German market, sales of the e-up! reached 30,797 units, a result that allowed it to be the second most popular electric vehicle last year, only surpassed by the Tesla Model 3 and its 35,262 registrations. What’s more, in the month of December 2021 the Volkswagen up! it was the best-selling car in Germany thanks to registrations of the all-electric model.
The successor to the Volkswagen e-up!
The Volkswagen’s future plans for e-up! they are clear. No matter how much demand and popularity this model has, the development of a totally new vehicle is on the agenda. A model that will be ready to attack the market at some point in the year 2025 and that, as might be expected, will be integrated into the incipient ID family. of electric cars.
It will be underpinned by a small variant of the Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform. Compared to the current model, this new ID. electricity will be larger and, therefore, will be able to cover both segment A and segment B. The price, logically, will be a determining factor.