New Volkswagen ID.7 estate spotted testing for the first time
Volkswagen is entering the niche market for all-electric estate cars with this more practical ID.7
Earlier this year, Volkswagen unveiled the latest in its growing range of all-electric ID-badged cars, the ID.7. We now have our first images of the more practical estate variant, seen testing on public roads.
The idea of an all-electric estate has been in the works for a while at VW. The ID.7 estate seen here will be the production version of the ID. Space Vizzion concept, which made its debut back in 2019.
Despite the heavy camouflage, we can already map out much of the ID.7 estate’s design, as it should borrow plenty from the ID.7 saloon. The front-end camouflage is the same as we saw on the saloon, so don’t pay attention to the faux grille or indeed the headlights because we suspect those are decoys. The lower bumper should also mimic the ID.7’s.
To the side there’s a set of aero-dynamically optimised wheels, plus similar body surface lines to the saloon’s. The big change is obviously behind the C-pillar, with the extra mass of the estate bodystyle. The ID.7’s 0.23 drag coefficient could rise slightly with the larger estate body but the elongated roofline should help ensure it’s still be one of the most aerodynamically-efficient estate cars on the road.
Around the back, that longer roofline flows into a rear spoiler and the rear lights have been covered - we expect the same units as the ID.7 saloon’s here. The rear pillar is relatively thick on the saloon and this trait is likely to be carried over to the estate, we’re not sure if that Hofmeister kink on the rear window is just another decoy though.
Powering the ID.7 estate should be the same 77kWh and 82kWh batteries from the saloon. The launch model will probably just have 77kWh, with a maximum range of just under 382 miles. The more powerful variant will probably have a range figure just below the 435 miles the ID.7 saloon offers.
We know a hot all-wheel GTX model will join the saloon range at some point, but the estate should initially come with a rear-mounted electric motor with 282bhp, power for the larger battery model hasn’t been revealed.
We expect the ID.7 estate to hit markets in 2024, by which point the all-electric estate genre will have gained Audi’s upcoming A6 e-tron Avant and BMW’s i5 Touring as well.
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