The VW ID.4 has won the world car of the year, and it is the third electric car to win this award. It’s a huge step forwards not only for VW but also for the electric car world. It’s the second time an electric car has won this award in the last two years, which is big news. It is also the second electric SUV after the Jaguar I-Pace to win this award.
This award definitely comes in time for “Earth Day” which was yesterday. The ID.4 is a step forwards for electric cars since it is a family-friendly spacious electric car. It is an everyday electric car, which is what we need since most people want an everyday normal car. It’s spacious, safe, comfortable, and reasonably priced and these are the car qualities that most people want. VW knows how to make a good family car, and they’ve only done it again with the new ID.4, hence why it won an award.
The ID.4 may not be the best electric car out there, or the fastest and defiantly not the coolest. But, it serves a purpose as a means of transport to get people from A to B. The range of a standard car is around 230 miles but the VW website states that the higher-spec “Life” model has a range of 323 miles, however, we all know that VW is a little dodgy with their figures.
Anyways, we’ve already spoken in-depth about the new ID.4 in one of our last articles. The key topic today is what does this mean for electric cars as a whole?
picture via: autoexpress.co.uk
Paving a Future For More Electric Cars To Win
The future is bright for electric cars. Expect more electric cars in the next decade to win the prestigious world car of the year award, in all 6 categories. I also believe that the world green car of the year award will still be around since each year there are always many new eco-cars coming out every year which offer something different to other cars which helps the environment.
The fact that two electric cars have won in the last two years is big news in the car industry. It means that the car industry will take electric cars a lot more seriously now. It will be an incentive for them to keep on improving and investing in their electric car developments and infrastructures. It could also help improve the electric car charging infrastructure as a whole since they are now getting more attention throughout the industry.
You could make the argument that the ID.4 only won because it’s electric and the judges want to promote electric cars, etc. However, you have to realize that most electric cars coming out today are far better than their Internal Combustion Engined equivalent.
World Car of The Year is given not to the best cars but cars that have made the most impact in the industry and portray a bright future. A decade ago, the Nissan Leaf won it. The reason why it showed a future for electric cars and it was a big stepping stone for the car industry. Here we are a decade later, and look how far we have come.
The award also helps the German car industry massively. Germany for years has been criticized for not keeping up with the electric revolution, but this award is another step closer to silencing those critics and also getting Germany back on top of the automotive world.
The ID.4 platform is used on the new Audi Q4, the Skoda Enyaq, and the new Seat electric SUV. It will probably be used for future Porsche models too since Porsche shares a lot of its platforms and components with VW cars. This helps cut down building costs massively for other cars, which means more money can be invested elsewhere. It also means that the platform is a pretty good one since it has Won World Car of The Year.
This is VW’s unfair advantage compared to everyone else. They can just re-use the same platform over and over again for different cars. Furthermore, the same platform can be adapted for bigger or smaller cars when need be. It’s essentially the skeleton of the car which can be molded onto different bodies. This is sure to accelerate the VW group hugely in the next few years and massively boost Germany’s economy.
Creates a More Competitive Environment For Other Manufacturers
Now VW has won the World Car of The Year Award with the ID.4, do you think for a second that other car manufacturers will just sit back and applaud? No, they won’t. They’ll probably be running to the drawing board looking for ways on how to beat it.
Competition in the EV world is what we need. It’s healthy competition, and it only advances the EV revolution whilst helping to reduce carbon emissions. It also means that governments are more likely to invest in this competition which helps the industry out even more as a whole.
Tesla has always encouraged more competition despite the fact that in the long term it could sink them. Why do it though? Well, it links back to the reasons for promoting this idea of reducing carbon emissions. Every manufacturer has to play its part regardless of the competition. This award here will push other car manufacturers to create something that will win the award next year. Doesn’t have to rival the ID.4 at all, it just needs to stand out and make an impact.
This award could have been given to the new Mercedes C-Class, the new S-class, the new BMW 4-series, etc. Instead, it was given to an electric car and what’s better is that the Honda E, another electric car came third. It shows that electric cars really are packing more value now than ever before, so maybe it’s time for all the naysayers to take things a hell of a lot more seriously. They’re no longer “dishwashers” on wheels. electric cars are seriously taking over, and what we are seeing now is the end of the Internal Combustion Engine.