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VW Highest-Ups Pretend They Want Your Opinion on a Potential Convertible ID.3

It's hard to say whether the rollout of Volkswagen's ID.3 electric hatchback is going according to plan since we don't really know what Wolfsburg's plan was to begin with, but from the outside, things are looking good.
Volkswagen ID.3 convertible sketch 3 photos
Photo: Volkswagen
Volkswagen ID.3 convertible sketchVolkswagen ID.3 convertible sketch
Based on 2021 registrations from nine of the most important European markets (including Norway), the Wolfsburg-based manufacturer has a 15 percent BEV market share (15.2%, to be more precise), with the ID.3 making up the bulk of the sales (2,462 out of the 5,662 total). Add all the Volkswagen Group brands together (those that offer BEV options at the moment, namely Audi, Porsche, and SEAT), and you'll notice the German giant has a grip on just over a quarter of the market.

The ID.3 is receiving a lot of help from the tiny e-Up! as well (1,694 sales), not to mention some remaining e-Golf stocks (983) that are probably going for heavily discounted prices right now. There are even 380 ID.4s that have made their way onto European roads already, with a lot more undoubtedly to follow.

However, if we're to look at everything Volkswagen promised on the back of the Dieselgate scandal more than five years ago, this should only be the beginning. And with plenty of numbers left to follow the two capital letters Volkswagen chose for its EV sub-brand, we're fully expecting to see new ID.x models one after another over the coming years.

One of them, apparently, might be a topless ID.3. Ralf Brandstätter, the CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars, and Herbert Diess, the CEO of everything Volkswagen, are touting the idea on their social media channels—no, not Facebook, you're not thinking like a CEO; it's Twitter and LinkedIn.

They're presenting it in such a way that it seems as though the decision hasn't been made yet, and you—yes, you—have the power to sway the carmaker one way or the other. Basically, they're allegedly testing the water to see the public's reaction.

We see two problems with that: first off, who in their right mind would say "no" to an electric convertible? Open-top driving is what EVs were made for: cruising in one at low speed with beautiful scenery around is more relaxing than one hundred spa appointments. As for buying, that's an entirely different situation. No, 99 percent of the people who say it's a great idea will not buy one because convertibles, battery-powered or otherwise, don't make much sense in most cases. The price, the weather, the unwanted attention, the reduced practicality—nope, we're not all Hollywood stars who live in the good parts of L.A., you know.

Second, that's not how manufacturers make decisions that could potentially impact their finances in the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. A few gullible people will probably feel very good about themselves one or two years from now when the convertible ID.3 launches, allowing them to claim, "I helped build that," but we all know that's not how things go.

Still, if you want to help Volkswagen increase its social media reach and involvement, you can head over to the two outlets we mentioned before (Twitter and LinkedIn) and express your view on the whole situation. Just don't expect to genuinely make a difference.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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