Volkswagen has announced a new electric sedan with a price and equipped to compete with electric vehicles like the Tesla Model 3, or something maybe a little bigger. TThe development program already has a bad name: Trinity Project.
I don’t know why it doesn’t line up for the “ID” nomenclature that VW is currently building with European crossovers ID.3 and US ID.4, but it looks like it could be the new platform car maker again.
Details about VW’s new Trinity Project sedan are scarce, aside from the large teaser image of the silhouette released today. VW CEO Ralf Brandstätter stated the new EV will be able to “charge as fast as refuel” a petrol car to a fuel pump and offer “new standards in terms of range”. Nor is it clear what size the sedan is planned for, but whether it is one insignia, may not be as compact as the Tesla Model 3 in size. The only hardware that the automaker was interested in detailing the Trinity is the set of equipment and driver assistance and self-driving systems of the platform.
The mass production version of the The Trinity Project EV sedan will have a high standard standardized hardware with fewer equipment options available, according to the car manufacturer. This means that all cars coming out of the line will come with a lot of standard hardware, regardless or not you have paid for all associated options for the first time. You will be driving with the weight of your car equipment that you have not paid enough to use. VW raises this as to turn the car into a “software-based product,” where the owner can pay to unlock transmission features, as all the necessary hardware is pre-installed (theoretically).
That supposedly reduces manufacturing complexity and, I’m extrapolating, probably simplifies service, order and delivery operations, and logistics processes, too. The inventory sheet shrinks and the quality improves as the menu shrinks, so to speak.
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“In the future, the individual configuration of the vehicle will no longer be determined by the hardware at the time of purchase,” Diu Brandstätter. “Instead, customers will be able to add functions to the menu at any time through the car’s digital ecosystem.
Some of these features are expected to include various levels of driver assistance, with equipment that VW claims to be capable of. Level 4 manual autonomous driving in the near future – i hardware-ready for digital unlock when the owner chooses. The car will come standard with Level 2 driver assistance systems.
I am still very skeptical of any system that claims capacity or legality above current driver assistance functions. such as steering assistance, lane guidance, automatic distance speed control and automatic braking systems it still requires complete practical attention and focus from the driver.
Competitors like Tesla have submerged Toes in blocking or performance functions behind the payment walls of the software on behalf of the standardizing hardware to simplify the manufacturing process. Although there were strong initial negative reactions, it is a manufacturing method that has been adopted among other automakers worldwide, such as the Chinese range NIO EV and Lucid next training.
We will see how the standardization of hardware aaffects the prices of the sedan of the Trinity Project, which will rival the Tesla Model 3. In the European market, where the Model 3 is priced at 39,990 euros, Welt German paper reported that CEO Brandstätter stated that prices could start “around 35,000 euros”.
This goes directly to just over $ 41,700 in US dollars, but prices in the state are likely to be cheaper than the direct conversion between the euro and the dollar. However, the Model 3 Standard Range Plus currently starts at $ 36,990 on the US website on Tesla a cheaper standard range may still be available through a store or by phone. In addition, VW EV sales volumes in the U.S. could still benefit from federal tax credits by the time the car goes into production in 2026, which Tesla buyers no longer meet, in addition to tax rebates. local and state (which Tesla buyers still rate) for a).
As for the name, VW says: “Trinity represents three crucial issues: a newly developed electronic platform with state-of-the-art software, the simplification of the supply structure, and intelligent, fully networked production at the Wolfsburg main plant. ”
That it could be a kind of excavation evident in the Model 3 from Tesla, though it reminds me of the Trinity nuclear device test, the first atomic bomb never detonated. An event that changes the safe world, but not one with which you necessarily want to connect your brand.