Volkswagen officially presented the successor to its first mass-produced electric car - the ID.3 Neo model. The presentation took place today, April 15, 2026.
Reincarnation under the name Neo
The main news for those who couldn’t stand the touch panels on the steering wheel: Volkswagen heard the criticism. In the new ID.3 Neo, the company returned to physical buttons on the multifunction steering wheel and changed the climate control logic. Now the panel is illuminated, greatly easing the driver’s life at night. The interior features a new Innovision infotainment system with a 12.9-inch screen that supports ChatGPT and works faster.
The appearance of the car was updated to the new "Pure Positive" design language. Changes affected the front bumper, optics, and rear lights, which now have an integrated light strip. During the world premiere, it became known that the trim line will now be called Trend, Life, and Style instead of the previous Pure, Pro, and Pro S.
Technical details: LFP batteries and 630 km range
Volkswagen revised its approach to energy storage. The base version of the ID.3 Neo Trend is equipped with a 50 kWh LFP battery (lithium iron phosphate). This provides a range of up to 417 km according to the WLTP cycle. The engine power in this version is 125 kW (170 hp).
- Life: 58 kWh (LFP), power 140 kW (190 hp), range up to 494 km
- Style: 79 kWh (NMC), power 170 kW (231 hp), range up to 630 km
Interestingly, the middle version became 10 kW less powerful than before but gained in efficiency. Charging is also not lagging behind: the top version supports power up to 183 kW at DC stations, allowing the charge to be replenished from 10% to 80% in 26 minutes. Additionally, a Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) function has appeared, allowing external devices to be powered with an output of up to 3.6 kW.
Fate of the "old" ID.3: time to buy the remaining stock?
While Neo is preparing for sales launch, the previous version of the ID.3 has disappeared from open configuration. In Germany, it can now only be purchased from stock. For example, as of today, dealer inventories still contain Pure Energy versions with a 52 kWh battery priced from 37,480 euros.
If you look at the price lists of March 2025, considering all discounts, the base ID.3 Pure was offered at 29,760 euros. For comparison, the top GTX Performance with an APP550 engine at 240 kW cost 45,155 euros. This is a "hot hatchback" with acceleration to 100 km/h in 5.7 seconds and a speed limit set at 200 km/h.
With the release of Neo, competition in the segment will only intensify. The main rivals remain MG4 Electric, Renault Megane Electric, and BYD Dolphin. Although the Megane loses in range (a maximum of 450 km), it still offers better ergonomics than the pre-restyled "German". However, with the appearance of physical buttons in Neo, this argument may lose weight.