Battery-dedicated future Polo equivalent set to show in 2025.

THEY call it Life, but it’ll be officially born in 2025, as a front-drive budget urban hatch that will slot in below the ID.3 in Volkswagen’s ever-growing electric vehicle range.

As much as the ID. Life revealed at the IAA motor show in Munich today is officially just a concept that lends a preview of the brand’s thinking about planning of future models, the brand’s boss says it will also preview a production model out in four years’ time for around $NZ34,000, aimed at younger buyers.

It’s a car driven by sustainability. The bodywork has a clear coat rather than paint and this is created using wood chips as a natural colouring agent. The front storage area that is enclosed by a soft material cover made of 'air chamber textile' that is fabricated from recycled plastic bottles.

Another catchphrase bandied about at today’s media conference is ‘urban mobility.’

The rear seat in this spacious interior is more sofa than car seat. It and the front seat, also a bench, can be folded down. A built-in video games console and projector for a screen that extends from the dashboard can turn the ID. Life into an entertaining place to hang out while the car is charging.

VW chief executive officer Ralf Brandstatter says the model offers a pretty clear vision of his brand’s next-generation fully electric urban mobility and gives a first signal about a small car segment entrant “that we will be launching in 2025, priced at around 20,000 euros.

“This means we are making electric mobility accessible to even more people.”

Those buyers will predominantly from a younger age set. “We believe that, even more so than today, the car of the future will be about lifestyle and personal expression.

“The customer of tomorrow won't simply want to get from A to B; they will be much more interested in the experiences that a car can offer. The ID. Life is our answer to this."

Like all other ID models, the car uses the modular 'MEB' platform architecture. But this is the first time that this has been used for a front-wheel-drive layout. VW proposes a 172kW electric motor that is powered by a 57kWh battery to lend a driving range of around 400 kilometres. Zero to 100kmh will occur in 6.9 seconds – basically, the same as a Golf GTI.