Volkswagen is one of several European carmakers rethinking EV design and marketing to boost sluggish sales – Image: Daisuke Ichikawa/AP Photo/picture alliance
Electric cars are supposed to be the future. So why are German carmakers now taking a page from past designs? Steven Beardsly reports from the IAA Mobility show in Munich.
When Volkswagen chief designer Andreas Mindt looks at the electric ID.Polo, he sees a friendly, familiar face. And that’s exactly the point.
Standing before the still-camouflaged model at the IAA auto show in Munich, Germany, Mindt described a shift away from the futuristic, sparser design language of recent ID models.
“When you look at the face here, it’s very optimistic,” Mindt said, pointing to the front. “It’s uplifting. All the lines are up-rising so that it looks friendly and positive and optimistic.”
A similar approach is visible across this year’s IAA Mobility show, where European carmakers are rethinking electric-vehicle design and marketing.
German car buyers are still skeptical about EVs. Will the models shown at the Munich IAA convince them? – Image: Frank Hoermann/SvenSimon/picture alliance
Struggling to broaden the appeal of their EV offerings, many are now emphasizing brand familiarity over novelty.
‘Welcome Home’
Mercedes has announced it’s merging the design palette for combustion engine and electric vehicles for coming models. Its motto “Welcome Home” comes as the brand approaches its 140th year of existence.
And while BMW’s new ix3 electric SUV is impressively modern on the exterior and interior, the iconic front grill — known as the kidneys — were modeled on a series from the 1960s, the “Neue Klasse” (“New Class”).
BMW’s iconic ‘New Class’ model series of the 1960s was a turning point for the Bavarian carmaker – Image: Michael Bihlmayer/CHROMORANGE/picture alliance
But it’s Volkswagen where the shift is most visible. Days before this year’s IAA Mobility show, the firm announced it would scrap the numbers-based naming convention for the ID family. It started with the ID.2, now named the ID.Polo, after a model familiar to generations of European drivers.
“You’ve got to stay modern, you’ve got to stay ahead of the curve,” Thomas Schäfer, CEO of the brand Volkswagen and Mindt’s boss, said. “But you have to stay true to the brand, too.”
The vehicle also looks more like a traditional Polo, with its slimmer profile, stronger lines and exposed wheel arches. Its interior will see the return of physical buttons for controlling features like climate control — a customer demand.
The exterior also boasts thicker rear lights, Mindt said, one of several features intended to suggest sturdiness. “They look like thick glass, whiskey glasses, you know what I mean? It’s not like a champagne glass, which breaks.”
Back to the basics
The design is something of a return for the Wolfsburg, Germany-based car company, which only earnestly embarked on EV production in the aftermath of the 2015 diesel emissions scandal. New CEO Herbert Diess was an advocate of transformation and an outspoken admirer of Elon Musk, who was then turning Tesla into the world’s largest electric car producer, a position openly coveted by Volkswagen.
Diess retained control of the Volkswagen brand, technically a separate position, to shepherd the design and release of its first purpose-built electric car, the ID.3. Volkswagen’s design chief said in interviews at the time that the hatchback’s look, with its flowing panels and fewer clear lines, was meant to represent a break with the past.
But Volkswagen stumbled out of the gate with the ID.3. Software problems hobbled the car’s appeal and loomed over Volkswagen in the following years, costing Diess his job in 2022.
The ID series would still go on to become best-sellers among European battery-electric vehicles. Yet overall electric sales remain underwhelming in Europe, at less than 16% market share, according to European auto industry data, with uptake having slowed in recent years.
Making a ‘true Volkswagen’
As Schäfer took over the Volkswagen Brand in 2022, he pushed against the prevailing ID design and marketing.
“It was all about, when I talked to the team, what do we have to do to make a true Volkswagen again?” Schäfer told DW in an interview.
Design was a major part. Schäfer fired the company’s head of design in 2024 and hired Mindt.
His instructions: “He wanted a true, proper Volkswagen,” Mindt said.
Back to the roots is the theme for VW chief Thomas Schäfer who unveiled the ID.Polo’s new design at the IAA – Image: Roland Niepaul/Volkswagen AG/dpa/picture alliance
The company is now counting on his work to pay off. The ID.Polo shares its drive system with five other models to be launched by Volkswagen in the coming months, including a GTI variant and new offerings from Skoda and Cupra.
Winning through scale is important to the automaker, which faces a tougher market. The competition from Chinese carmakers is fiercer, and even the premise of electric drive systems more divisive with the rise of populist politics and the return of Donald Trump to the US presidency.
For design chief Mindt, that divisiveness is one more reason to focus on what he calls “uplifting” design. Buyers will understand his intent with the ID.Polo, he believes, even if they can’t explain it.
“Sometimes you don’t need to explain that,” Mindt said. “They feel it with their heart.”
(DW.com/NAN 12-09-25)
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