Volkswagen announced a new electric sedan which is priced and equipped to compete with EVs like the Tesla Model 3, or something a little bigger. TThe development program already has a bad name: Trindade Project.
I don’t know why this is not in line with the “ID” nomenclature that VW is building with the European ID.3 and US ID.4 crossovers, but it seems that once again the automaker is developing a new platform.
Details on VW’s new Project Trinity sedan are scarce, in addition to the sweeping silhouette teaser image released today. VW CEO Ralf Brandstätter said the new EV will be able to “charge as fast as it refills” a gasoline car at a fuel pump and offer “new standards in terms of range”. It is unclear the size of the planned sedan, too, but if it is a flagship, may not be as compact as the Tesla Model 3 in size. The only hardware that the automaker was interested in detailing on Trinity is the set of equipment and systems for driver assistance and autonomous steering on the platform.
The series production version of The Trinity Project EV sedan will have standardized hardware with fewer equipment options available, according to the automaker. This means that each car that leaves the line will come with a standard hardware load, whether or not you paid for all associated options in advance. You’ll be driving around with the weight of the car’s equipment that you haven’t paid enough to use. VW presents this as turning the car into a “software-based product”, where the owner can pay to unlock over-the-air features, since all the necessary hardware is pre-installed (theoretically).
This supposedly reduces manufacturing complexity and, I’m extrapolating, probably simplifies maintenance, order and delivery operations, and logistics processes as well. The inventory sheet gets smaller and the quality improves as the menu gets shorter, 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,” Brandstätter says. “Instead, customers will be able to add functions on demand at any time via the digital ecosystem in the car. ”
Some of these features are designed to include multiple levels of driver assistance, with equipment that VW claims to be capable of. Level 4 self-driving without intervention in the near future – and 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, over current driver assistance resources such as power steering, lane guidance, automated distance cruise control and automatic braking systems yet it still requires total attention and focus from the driver.
Competitors like Tesla have lowered their toes in blocking resources or performance behind software paywalls in the name of hardware standardization to simplify the manufacturing process. Although there were strong initial negative reactions, it is a manufacturing method that has been adopted by other automakers worldwide, such as China’s NIO EV line and Lucid’s next training.
We’ll see how hardware standardization isaffects the price of Project Trinity sedan, which is expected to rival the Tesla Model 3. In the European market, where the Model 3 costs 39,990 Euros, the German paper Welt reported that CEO Brandstätter said the price could start “around 35,000 euros”.
This amounts to just over $ 41,700 in US dollars, but the price in the United States is likely to be cheaper than direct conversion from euro to dollar. The Model 3 Standard Range Plus currently starts at $ 36,990 in the USA on the Tesla website, although a cheaper standard range may still be available at a store or on the phone. In addition, VW EV sales volumes in the U.S. may still qualify for federal tax rebates when the car goes into production in 2026, for which Tesla buyers no longer qualify, in addition to tax rebates local and state (for which Tesla buyers still qualify for).
As for the name, VW says: “Trinity represents three crucial themes: a newly developed electronic platform with state-of-the-art software, the simplification of the supply structure, and fully connected and intelligent production at the main plant in Wolfsburg. ”
This may be a kind of obvious excavation on the Model Tesla 3, although it reminds me of the Trinity nuclear device test, the first atomic bomb already detonated. An event that will change the world for sure, but not the one you necessarily want to connect your brand to.