VW, as announced last year, has adopted a new formula for naming its electric models, keeping the prefix ID., which refers to the sub-brand created for this type of model, but changing the numbers that identified the segments to the names we associate with the most successful models of the German manufacturer. On the horizon, following the launches of ID. Polo and ID. Cross, and coinciding with the first major update of the ID. 4, is the introduction of the ID. Tiguan.
The information has not yet been confirmed by the Wolfsburg brand. However, according to the publication Automotive News Europe, members of IG Metall, the largest metalworkers’ union in Germany (and worldwide), during a press conference at the Emden factory in Germany, announced a change that will coincide with the first major update of the 100% electric SUV, which debuted in September 2020 (at the time, it was only the second model of the sub-brand presented in 2019, simultaneously with the launch of the ID. 3).
The ID. 4 is based on the MEB technical architecture, and measures 4584 mm in length, with a wheelbase of 2765 mm. The Tiguan, in its third generation, presented in 2024, has (almost) the same dimensions, measuring 4551 mm in length and 2681 mm in wheelbase. During 2025, VW sold 80,123 units of the former, a 23.8% increase from 2024 – it is the fifth best-selling electric vehicle in Europe, behind the Tesla Model Y (151,331 units), Skoda Elroq (94,106), Tesla Model 3 (86,261), and Renault 5 E-Tech Electric (81,517) – and 197,000 of the latter (+0.8%), making it the most successful compact SUV on the Old Continent.
The modernization of the ID. 4 is scheduled for the second half of 2026 and also coincides with the end of production in Zwickau, Germany, transitioning to Emden. Outside of Europe, VW also manufactures this fully electric SUV in the USA (Chattanooga, Tennessee), and in China (Anting, with SAIC, and Foshan, with FAW). As for the ID. 5, which was presented in November 2021 and has been in production since January 2022, due to reduced demand, it will be discontinued by the German brand, which intends to focus on the production of models with larger volumes, although this information also lacks official confirmation.
According to the same source, VW also intends to bring the ID. Tiguan closer to the Tiguan, both in image and in commercial positioning. Thus, the alignment between models with internal combustion engines and the 100% electric ones will be much clearer. The representatives of IG Metall also assured the production of the ID.4 in Emden until the end of 2031, and informed that the succession of the model is still to be decided, two more pieces of information that the German brand did not comment on.
The adoption of a strategy for the names of electric models was announced by VW in September 2025, at the IAA in Munich, during the debut of the ID. Polo. The idea behind the change is to use familiar designations for customers, and, therefore, since they play with emotions, they can, in theory, seduce them much more easily.
