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Volkswagen considering electric ID.3 convertible

The 2021 Volkswagen ID.3 electric hatch could spawn a drop-top sibling, if community interest proves strong enough.


Posts by Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess and Volkswagen passenger cars CEO Ralf Brandstätter on online platforms Twitter and LinkedIn reveal the brand is "pondering" a two-door convertible spin-off to its five-door ID.3 electric small hatchback, as the first drop-top member of its burgeoning ID electric vehicle range.

A pair of renderings released by the German brand show a potential ID.3 Convertible would undergo a similar transformation from five-door hard-top to two-door soft-top as its only drop-top currently on sale, the T-Roc Cabriolet: slice the roof off, delete the rear doors, lengthen the front doors and extend the upper edge of the tailgate to house a compact soft-top roof beneath.

The rendered concept even retains the standard ID.3's three second-row seats which, given the convertible's short rear overhang, would likely make for a steep rear window angle and less-than-ideal roof proportions – though we'd prefer to reserve judgement for a potential production model.

 

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"An ID.3 convertible? Sounds quite appealing: enjoying nature with the top down, with the instant, but silent electric punch. This could provide an entirely new, extraordinary feeling of freedom," said Brandstätter in a LinkedIn post.

"I admit: a very tempting idea. We are still pondering how to turn this attractive concept into reality. Just in case, our design team has already sketched out some initial ideas. The most exciting question: what do YOU think? Would electric driving and an open-air-experience make a perfect match?"

On Twitter, Diess added "We‘re thinking about an e-convertible, maybe an VW ID.3 convertible. What do you think?"

If given the green light for production – something which the German execs indicate has yet to occur – the ID.3 Convertible would join Volkswagen's range as its second drop-top model, alongside the aforementioned, high-riding T-Roc Cabriolet that's currently not sold in Australia.

The last passenger car-based soft-top offered by the German giant Down Under was the Golf Cabriolet, introduced in 2011 as a derivative of the then-current 'Mk6' Golf, but phased out in 2016 following the brand's desire to cut slow-selling models and reduce range complexity, and its ageing underpinnings that dated as far back as the Mk5 Golf of 2003.

 

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Above: The standard Volkswagen ID.3 hatch.

Expect any production drop-top ID.3 to share its five-door sibling's MEB platform, with the flexibility of the modular, electric-only underpinnings enabling the business case for low-volume, niche models such as convertibles and sports cars to be more easily justified, given the reduced development and production costs required new body styles and models versus an equivalent petrol-powered architecture.

The standard hatch's powertrains should also carry over, headlined by a 77kWh lithium-ion battery paired to a 150kW rear-mounted electric motor in flagship models for a 7.9-second 0-100km/h sprint time and a 540km range on the WLTP test cycle.

Should the Volkswagen ID.3 Convertible be given the go-ahead for production, it's likely the variant would launch alongside the mid-life facelift for the five-door hatch, due in 2023 or 2024.

Given the Volkswagen ID.3 hatch isn't expected to go on sale in Australia until 2022 or 2023 (or beyond), chances for a local arrival for the convertible appear even slimmer.

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Alex Misoyannis

Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family.

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