VW ID.3 Reportedly to Hit UK Shores as Soon as March

The Volkswagen ID.3 is probably the most hyped electric car outside of Tesla as everyone awaits the fruits of VW’s labor after years of pouring money into the project and telling everyone how good their electric cars will be. With the stated start of delivery to be around Summer, it seems that some UK dealers might be getting their allocations early.

When the ID.3 was official revealed it seemed like a very good alternative to the Model 3 and overall great electric car on the more affordable side of the price spectrum. However, some enthusiasm was lost when we heard that the ID.3 would be delayed once again. 

At first, it was set to be released at the end of 2019, but then it was pushed to the beginning of 2020, no big deal really. However when it was officially unveiled, Volkswagen had pushed back the date even further to the Summer of 2020, a more substantial delay. 

There have been some hiccups along the way during production, namely a problem with not being able to put the correct software on the first batch of cars, meaning that they will now have to each be updated by hand.

However, it seems that despite the initial delays and some problems during production, we might see the ID.3 being delivered sooner than this Summer.

According to thisismoney.co.uk the UK’s first allocation of 1,500 ID.3s will start coming next month. They state that the Alan Day Group, which was given just 35 of the first UK ID.3 deliveries, will deliver its cars to customers around March 28th or 29th. This, of course, contradicts VW’s previous timeline, but it seems that either they are building them much quicker than anticipated or no longer wish to build up as large of an inventory.

Nick Wells, who is head of business at the Alan Day Group has a positive outlook on the adoption of the ID.3, saying:

“To sell 1,500 from a range that hasn’t even hit the market yet is unprecedented and suggests we are on the cusp of an electric vehicle revolution. VW electric vehicles have come a long way in an incredibly short space of time and depending on what battery pack you have users will have a usable range of 280 miles which is more than most customers would drive on any one day. Now people can jump in the car and go without having that range anxiety. Nowadays people – particularly the under 30’s market – want to do their bit for the environment and we often hear people saying buying an electric vehicle is the first step in becoming more environmentally aware.”  

It will be interesting to see if Volkswagen will be able to escape the curse that is battery shortages as it has hit it’s contemporaries. Audi has already had multiple instances of lowering production, Jaguar has issued a short pause in production, and Mercedes has decreased its annual output of the EQC from 60,000 to 30,000, all in part to issues with securing batteries.

The ID.3 is at a lower price and will demand higher volumes than the previously mentioned offerings, meaning that a shortage in batteries will have a larger impact. It will be interesting to see if Volkswagen will hit similar roadblocks.

Let’s cross our fingers that we can get a glimpse of the ID.3 during spring along with an adequate number of batteries.