No plans for Cupra or Skoda variants of Volkswagen ID 1

The new Volkswagen ID Every1 is being developed entirely as a stand-alone model with no current plans for related cars from sibling brands Cupra and Skoda, according to the firm’s technical chief, Kai Grünitz.

This is because of the uncertainty over the growth of the electric city car market in the coming years, said Grünitz, although he hinted that the ID 1’s platform will eventually be used for such models once a business case can be shown. 

The new electric VW city car is due on sale in 2027 with a starting price of £17,000. The ID Every1 sits on a new version of the front-wheel-drive MEB Entry platform, which will also underpin the forthcoming ID 2all, Cupra Raval and Skoda Epiq.

Those three Volkswagen Group models were all developed alongside each other and the economics of scale derived from the three models was key to their development.

The Volkswagen Up, the ID 1’s spiritual predecessor, was also made viable by being developed alongside the near-identical Skoda Citigo and Seat Mii.

Despite that, Grünitz said the production ID 1 is not being developed alongside any VW Group siblings.

Asked by Autocar why the VW Group isn’t developing multiple models from different brands alongside the ID 1, Grünitz said: “This touches a little bit the question of why do we come [with the ID 1] in 2027? We see the market is developing right now, especially in the A00 [city car] market. We think it will grow in the next few years, so we really think coming in 2027 is the right time, especially with all the rumours around combustion engines and how do we end them in Europe.

“So I think 2027 is the right point of time for the ID 1, and if the market really goes up, we can easily decide then to bring Cupra or Skoda models, but not yet.”