By: Edward Taylor
FRANKFURT - Germany's Auto Motor und Sport magazine has panned Volkswagen's new electric car, the ID.3, saying it had fallen short of the carmaker's usual standards of fit and finish, and had a limited operating range.
The publication was reviewing the car ahead of its launch.
"The inner side of the bonnet looks like it was painted with a spray can," the publication said, lamenting the absence of Volkswagen's trademark build quality in a pre-production model they were testing for this week's edition.
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Uneven panel gaps, an infotainment system which takes a long time to fire up, and a navigation system that fails to work were other features which the publication held up for criticism.
The powertrain and ride were good, but the operating range was only 359 kilometers, the publication said.
Volkswagen's labour chief criticised the company's electric car programme for falling behind schedule. VW in March rejected the criticism but admitted that the cars needed last minute improvements.
Volkswagen Chief Executive Herbert Diess last week drove the Tesla Model Y and praised the vehicle.
"This car is for us in many aspects (not in all!) a reference: user experience, updatability, driving features, performance of the top of the range models, charging network, range," Diess said.
At this stage, it does not appear that the ID.3 is destined for South Africa, however the company does plan to launch the ID.4 crossover in 2020.
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The VW brand plans to build 1.5 million electric cars by 2025. Volkswagen Group, whose brands also include Porsche, Audi, Skoda, Bentley and Bugatti, will launch 75 electric cars by 2029 and be capable of building 26 million vehicles.
Reuters