VW unveils ID.4 interior with some Tesla inspirations

VW is unveiling the ID.4’s interior today, or at least the electric SUV’s cockpit, and you could easily argue that there are some inspirations from Tesla’s minimalist interior.

Despite being trashed by many early on for the spartan approach to its interior design, Tesla has now definitely created a minimalist trend in the auto industry, with the user experience being centered around a large display in the middle of the dash.

We have seen some clear resemblance in the Mustang Mach-E’s interior, and in several popular EVs in China like Nio’s and Xpeng’s.

Now VW is today unveiling the interior of the upcoming ID.4 electric SUV, the German brand’s first new all-electric vehicle to hit the North American market, and we are again seeing some inspiration from Tesla.

While not as minimalist as Tesla’s, the interior is fairly simple, or “lightweight,” as VW refers to it with a modest line around the dash:

The experience centers around a protruding center touchscreen. However, unlike Tesla in the Model 3 and Model Y, VW retained an instrument cluster behind the wheel, albeit an extremely small one.

Volkswagen writes about the ID.4’s interior:

The ID.4’s interior design underlines the ample sense of space: similarly to the exterior design, it appears flowing and lightweight, focusing on the essential. The dash panel seems to be floating, as it is not linked to the center console, which has been designed as an independent component. A large, tilting panoramic sunroof made of glass (optional) grants an unrestricted view of the sky. As darkness falls, the background lighting can be adjusted within 30-color spectrum to set striking highlights in the vehicle interior. Klaus Zyciora emphasizes that the entire display and operating concept has been designed logically and with a straightforward character, adding ‘the intuitive operability of the ID.4 brings a new, electric ease to the crossover SUV category.’

Like the ID.3, the ID.4 is going to be equipped with the “ID. Light” system, which consists of a light strip below the windscreen that will change color and blink to indicate different functions like locking the car, navigation prompts, incoming calls, and many other options.

The ID.4’s interior is similar to the ID.3’s, but you could argue that it is even simpler with even more minimalist lines on the dash.

The electric SUV is going to be fully unveiled later this month and deliveries are starting in Europe later this year.

VW will also send the vehicles to the US and it will later be produced locally at VW’s factory in Tennessee in early 2022.