![\"vw](\"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/volkswagen-id-4-reinvented-for-2026-bold-new-design-and-tech-overhaul-signals-electric-suv-evolution.jpg\" "\\"vw")
<\/a><\/p>\nID 4 facelift, known internally as ‘electric Tiguan’, will bring reinvention inside and out<\/p>\n
Volkswagen design chief Andreas Mindt has hinted that a dramatic makover next year for the\u00a0ID 4<\/a>\u00a0will take a significant number of styling cues from the new ID Cross concept<\/a>.<\/p>\n While Mindt wouldn\u2019t give specific details, he said the \u201cID 4 will be the big brother\u201d of the new ID Cross, which is due to go on sale next year. The ID 3<\/a> will also receive a similarly dramatic overhaul, although Mindt refused to elaborate.<\/p>\n However, he did hint that Volkswagen would move away from the extremely short front ends on its early bespoke electric efforts, most notably the ID 3 \u2013 although it is unclear\u00a0if that can be addressed in a heavy update.<\/p>\n \u201cWith electric cars you don\u2019t have engines so the bonnet can be really short, so companies including us did this,\u201d he added. \u201cBut the pedal box stays in the same place, and when that stays it\u2019s wrong, because all you create is a very deep dashboard and long glass window, and that is like an oven and you don\u2019t have energy to cool it down \u2013 so it\u2019s a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n As previously reported by Autocar, the ID 4’s mid-life update will be so extensive\u00a0that it will be more like a new generation than a facelift, as part of a drive to sustain its strong sales figures and make it a more obvious electric equivalent to the Tiguan<\/a>.<\/p>\n The ID 4, Volkswagen’s second bespoke electric car after the closely related ID 3<\/a> hatchback, is approaching its fifth birthday, having launched in 2020 as a crucial component of the firm’s drive to become a global leader in EV sales.<\/p>\n It quickly became one of the world’s most popular EVs, and remains an important part of Volkswagen’s electric portfolio: in the first half of 2025 it was Europe’s second\u00a0best-selling electric car, behind the Tesla Model Y<\/a>,\u00a0according to figures from Jato Dynamics.<\/p>\n And now, at five years old, the Toyota bZ4X<\/a> and Tesla Model Y<\/a> rival is due an extensive round of design and technical updates to bring it into line with its newer stablemates.<\/p>\n Volkswagen CEO Thomas Sch\u00e4fer told Autocar\u00a0the new 2026 ID 4 is “really beautiful” and hinted at just how extensively it has been overhauled: “We’ll re-do the ID 4 completely inside and out. It will be a completely different car – a huge step up.”<\/p>\n A major priority for the design overhaul is to ensure the ID 4 is visually related to Volkswagen’s new-generation electric cars. “We felt it needed to fit in with the new design language going forward, since it is still our most important electric vehicle in numbers,” said Sch\u00e4fer, specifically mentioning the ID 1 and ID 2.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s also to stay competitive for a while: let’s [bring] a completely new one.\u201d<\/p>\n Autocar understands the new ID 4 is known internally as the ‘electric Tiguan’, hinting at a push to present the two similarly sized SUV models more overtly as siblings.\u00a0<\/p>\n The company has not confirmed plans to go as far as changing the ID 4\u2019s name, but Sch\u00e4fer previously suggested to Autocar that the Tiguan moniker would always have a place in Volkswagen\u2019s portfolio – even as the line-up goes all-electric: \u201cWe’ve decided we’re not going to throw away the traditional, successful names that have carried us for so long, that we’ve invested in for so long, like Golf and Tiguan. Why would you let them go?\u201d<\/p>\n An electric Tiguan equivalent has long been understood to be part of Volkswagen’s product roadmap, the combustion-powered car being Volkswagen’s most popular car globally, and was earmarked for a launch in 2025 or 2026 – which would coincide with the planned rollout for the upgraded ID 4.<\/p>\n Speaking to Autocar, Volkswagen technical development boss Kai Gr\u00fcnitz recently confirmed that the ID 4 will follow the ID 3 hatchback in adopting the new design language first introduced on the 2023 ID 2all concept, giving them \u201ca family resemblance to the ID 2\u201d as well as a \u201clower and squatter stance\u201d.<\/p>\n Inside, Gr\u00fcnitz confirmed that the facelifted ID 3 and ID 4 will receive fully revised interiors featuring a new dashboard and user interface. Among the changes is a return of physical buttons and knobs in place of digital display-based functions and the controversial slider element, a move first hinted at by the ID 2All.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to bring back a round knob for the volume control,\u201d an insider said, adding: \u201cIf you develop something that works, and it has worked for years, there\u2019s no reason to replace it.\u201d<\/p>\n Technical details of the facelifted ID 3 and ID 4 have yet to be revealed, though Autocar has been told Volkswagen\u2019s best-selling electric models will benefit from the efficiency and performance gains brought to other more recently launched models, including the ID 7, through newer and more technically advanced electric motors and more contemporary battery and inverter technology.<\/p>\n The facelifted ID 3 is scheduled to be revealed during the second quarter of next year, with the ID 4 arriving later in 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n The ID 4’s rakish-roofed ID 5<\/a> sibling is understood to be earmarked for retirement, rather than undergoing the same round of updates. Volkswagen does not break out individual model performance in its annual reports, but the ID 5 is not currently in Europe’s top 25 EVs, and has sold around a third the number of ID 4s in the UK since the duo launched.\u00a0<\/p>\n The updates are part of a broader effort to reset Volkswagen\u2019s image as a maker of EVs after early criticism of quality, software and user experience in its first-generation MEB-based models.<\/p>\n Alongside the arrival of three new MEB Entry-based EVs next year \u2013 the VW ID 2, Cupra Raval<\/a> and Skoda Epiq<\/a> \u2013 the goal is to extend the lifespan of the current 400V models to keep VW at the top of Europe\u2019s EV sales charts, insiders say, while the firm readies its next-generation 800V SSP platform, which is due to underpin VW EVs from 2028.<\/p>\n Volkswagen also intends to differentiate its EV designs by region, with European and US models sharing a common design theme while Chinese-market cars receive their own styling direction. This strategy was hinted at by the unveiling of the ID Aura, Era and Evo<\/a> at the Shanghai motor show in April.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":69578,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,137],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-69577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/volkswagen-id-4-reinvented-for-2026-bold-new-design-and-tech-overhaul-signals-electric-suv-evolution-1.jpg\")
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