Volkswagen is moving forward with the development of a small electric car for the mass market with the expectation of tougher climate regulations, as it looks forward to increase sales in a new green era.
Under the project called “Small BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle)”, engineers are racing to develop a purely-battery powered car having the size of a Polo which will be available for between 20,000 and 25,000 euros ($24,000-30,000).
This would make it cheaper compared to Volkswagen’s ID.3 electric car, which went on sale in September.
Volkswagen did not give information on what the vehicle might look like, when it might be released or where it might be built.
The automaker has said the European Union’s more strict emissions targets will force it to increase the proportion of hybrid and electric vehicles in its European car sales to 60% by 2030, up from an earlier target of 40%.
Previously this month, it raised its planned investment in digital and electric vehicle technologies to 73 billion euros ($86 billion) during the next five years, of which around 35 billion will be spent in e-mobility.
The Volkswagen brand presently plans to build 1.5 million electric cars by 2025.
