Volkswagen South Africa has announced it has taken the next step in its electric mobility strategy, with the local arm of the German marque confirming the introduction of an ID.4 – the group’s best-selling EV and current World Car of the Year – to its test fleet in 2022.
“The introduction of the ID.4 will assist us with gaining valuable insights”
Said Steffen Knapp, head of the Volkswagen Passenger Car brand, “Most South African drivers currently prefer internal combustion engine cars. In order to be South Africa’s best-selling electric vehicle brand, we first need to educate our consumers by getting as many of them as possible to experience electric vehicles with the hope of changing perceptions. The introduction of the all-electric and best-selling ID.4 will assist us with gaining valuable insights which will pave the way for Volkswagen to include electric vehicles in the future product portfolio in South Africa.”
As a reminder, VW SA’s electric mobility strategy kicked off in 2020 with the launch of an e-Golf test fleet. The Golf-badged EV test units, VW SA says, “were used for research purposes and testing by motoring media as well as Volkswagen dealers in an effort to gain valuable insights into the experiences of living with an electric vehicle in South Africa”.
“It is important for us to conduct thorough research on electric vehicles before introducing them in South Africa”
“It is important for us to conduct thorough research on electric vehicles before introducing them in South Africa. With the e-Golf test fleet, we exposed hundreds of Volkswagen customers to electric vehicles and over 90 per cent of those customers indicated that they would consider buying an EV in the future,” Knapp says.
