VW’s new low-cost EVs have already secured nearly 150,000 orders, but is that enough?

Volkswagen's new lineup of smaller, cheaper electric cars is drawing strong interest in Europe, with nearly 150,000 orders since production started in June. The lineup includes the VW ID. Polo, ID. Cross, Cupra Raval, and Skoda Epiq, which share the same basic design. The ID. Polo starts around $29,000 with roughly 207 miles of range, while the ID. Cross starts around $32,000. In Germany, orders for electric cars now outnumber orders for gas-powered ones, and across Europe about 40% of Volkswagen's order book is now all-electric.

The picture looks very different in the United States, though. Volkswagen's U.S. electric vehicle sales are down nearly 80% this year, which the company attributes to the expiration of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit and new import tariffs. Volkswagen also ended production of its ID.4 electric SUV in the U.S., with a replacement called the ID. Tiguan expected to arrive in early 2027.

None of these smaller, lower-cost electric models are currently sold in the U.S., so this news mainly reflects conditions overseas. But it does point to a wider shift: automakers are leaning harder into lower-priced EVs as a way to compete, and the loss of the federal tax credit is clearly reshaping which electric vehicles make financial sense for American buyers right now. Anyone weighing an EV purchase may want to pay attention to how incentives and model lineups keep changing in the months ahead.