Newly-appointed local brand boss Chanelle McDonald says arrival of the ID.4 and ID.5 is step one of the brand’s local transition into an electric future.

ON the road at last - that’s the Volkswagen ID electric car sales push, kicking off now with the brand’s first global battery product, the ID.4, with a coupe-styled ID.5 sister ship to keep it company.

And more besides? For sure. Though strictly speaking they’re represented by Volkswagen commercials rather than the passenger division, the ID.Buzz electric retro-Kombi reprise and its ID.Cargo workhorse equivalent are all part of the family. Same platform, motor, battery set and so on as the hatchbacks.

Beyond that, VW has something like eight more ID cars coming up to the boil. A couple are presently designated as being for specific markets, such as China, but only to start with. VW seems open to ideas from any market it serves.

The first ID of all is the ID.3 hatchback; it was seen in 2020 and some grey imports are here now, but VW NZ wasn’t on the invite list for the first two years and now feels it might as well await the facelift edition, already seen in Europe but not due for release to us until mid to late 2024. Also high on the list for local introduction is the battery baby, the ID.2.

The first model to use the long-anticipated MEB Entry platform that has been developed by the Volkswagen Group, this sub-ID.3 car (in size and price) will be a core vehicle for delivering a new design language and potential to take on the likes of the Opel Corsa-e and Peugeot e-208. A Cupra and a Skoda are also spawning from the ‘Two'; as are a second Volkswagen model: a compact crossover that will feature more rugged styling inspired by models such as the T-Cross and T-Roc.

With ID.4/ID.5 out in the market, and in good supply, the national distributor is now looking to tend to the other side of its battery-included business, the introduction of plug-in hybrid versions of the Golf, Tiguan and Passat. First of those is Golf GTE, here in September.

There’s a lot going on. And a new boss at the helm. Chanelle McDonald (above) became general manager of VW NZ passenger on August 1, following a nearly three-year tenure at Skoda New Zealand where she was the national sales and corporate manager.

Much of McDonald’s background is in marketing where she previously worked in various Senior Account Manager roles before joining European Motor Distributors, which represents all VW Group makes here, as the head of marketing for Audi New Zealand.

She is the first female general manager to be appointed by EMD.

MotoringNZ: With ID.4 and ID.5 now finally here, is this the start of Volkswagen New Zealand becoming an electric car company?

Chanelle McDonald: Yes, definitely. I think that the opportunity we have in front of us is obvious. We have a German-engineered quality brand and product. We still obviously have internal combustion products, but the focus for the brand here now is really that transition.

MNZ: When you speak to electric, you also have a growing integration of plug-in electric hybrids?

CMcD: Yes, so the Golf GTE (above) will be our first and that’s here in a matter of weeks. And at the end the year, pending shipping schedules, we have the Touareg R PHEV.

MNZ: A lot of product rollouts have been delayed due to coronavirus and other reasons; a five year wait for ID.4 and ID.5 must have been quite a test of resolve. Where there times when you wondered if they would ever arrive?

CMcD: Some of the team have been working on this project for five years. It’s been a labour of love. For us the exciting thing is that we have been able to get it across the line and that we are still the first international right hand drive country outside of Europe to see ID.5. That’s a bit of the coupe.

MNZ: You’re the third general manager of VW NZ since that whole exercise began, you couldn’t have achieved the job at a better time perhaps?

CMcD: I’m very lucky to come into this role at this time. My predecessors did a huge amount of work and I’ve come along at a pivotal time.

MNZ: Whenever there are vehicles with common platforms and drivetrains, with identical outputs, behind different badges, the question of how much character each brand has arises. You’ve just come to this job from being in charge of marketing for Skoda. What makes an entry VW ID.4 or ID.5 ore preferable than the Enyaq at basically the same price?

CMcD: I think it’s the badge on the front. It’s who we are as a brand and I thunk it’s to do with the experiences you have driving a VW. Everyone has a VW story in their lives.

MNZ: Do you think that the huge wait for these cars has seen some potential customers look elsewhere?

CMcD: It has been a long process, unfortunately the timing from Europe has had an affect and, in that period there have been a lot of other electric cars come into the market. So we’ve definitely lost customers. But we do also have loyal customers who we will see take these models and we also expect to attract newcomers to our brand with them.

MNZ: With so many electric cars now selling as yours does, at just $80,000 to achieve the Clean Car rebate, what will be the biggest rival for the entry ID.4 and ID.5? Is it going to be another car on the VW MEB platform or will it be something else?

CMcD: It’s hard to say. The (Audi) Q4 e-tron, Enyaq and the IDs are all landing at the same time. They are all European-made vehicles and, yes, they all have to be considered competitors. I think there are also strong contenders from other manufacturers, including the Koreans. There’s also part of me that thinks some of our own VW ICE vehicles are competitors as well.

MNZ: Speaking of that, there’s talk that the generation nine Golf will become an electric product. Are you pleased that such a iconic and core name will remain in circulation? You’ve also expressed expectation ID.4 will become your biggest volume passenger product this year and in 2024 - that title used to be held by Golf, but not for few years. Is the latter in all its forms still vital to VW NZ?

CMcD: I think there’s a nostalgia with the name. Golf is a big part of our history. I’m really excited there is a continuation of that.

MNZ: VW is looking at presenting up to 10 new electric models over the next few years; what are we likely to see?

CMcD: It’s hard to know. It really comes down to what we can get. We are working on ID.3 at the moment, ID.2 (above) is coming up and some others are coming up. At this stage, it’s all a work in progress. We’re trying our hardest to ensure the NZ market has the best opportunity to have those here.

MNZ: Do you wish ID.Buzz was part of your portfolio and not, as it is, within the VW Commercial sphere?

CMcD: I look at VW as a whole. The two operations work closely together and as one; it is a really strong model in the line-up.

MNZ: You’ve ticked off the performance-themed ID.4 GTX (above) for entry mid next year. What will that car do for the VW brand image in general, and the VW electric image in particular. Will it be the GTI of the future - do you think we might get to the point when the Golf GTI is dropped in favour of a electric GTE equivalent?

CMcD: New Zealanders love performance vehicles and adding that the stable is further increasing the strength of the ID product. GTE and GTI? It’s hard to know but I feel they both have a different place.

MNZ: ID.2 is a really interesting car. pure battery, compact in exterior dimension but as big inside as a Golf. Do you see a lot of potential from a sub-ID.3 electric car in our country?

CMcD: It is interesting. I think that with electric we will see models evolve a lot more. So much at the moment sits within that SUV space but we had a lot of success with smaller models and I’m excited to see how that expands.

MNZ: It sounds like ID.4 and ID.5 will achieve the power increase about to meted the Enyaq; so the 82kWh gross battery will deliver enhanced 210kW output - a 60kW increase on the current output - improved WLTP driving range and a slightly faster 0-100kmh time, of 6.7 seconds. This implements in ID from January production in Europe. How long before this update comes and will it alter the pricing?

CMcD: We’re working on it. We’re negotiating on that.

MNZ: The lack of speed recognition software was one point raised by ANCAP when it determined the five star crash test result for ID.4 and ID.5. You’ve acknowledged also the NZ-specification does not include the active involvement with sat nav that will allow it to seek out charge locations, as a for instance, and estimate best recommendations for driving because the NZ-spec does not enable for over the air updates, as the car does in Europe. Is an update coming?

CMcD: Again, it’s a work in progress. In my previous role with Skoda we heard feedback from the United Kingdom that they were experiencing some issues with the one-line vehicles. It’s still very new technology and there is perhaps some benefit in being off-line just now. We are looking at how we can integrate it. We know there will be early adopters looking for it, but we feel with 85 percent of electric vehicle charging being done at home, we think it’s not an issue for the majority.