Volkswagen ID.Polo: 10 months delivery time, really?
The German city car is reported to have delivery delays of up to 10 months.
A victim of its own success? Volkswagen confirmed recently that the ID.Polo has received 30,000 orders since spring. Last week, an article in the German media outlet Automobilwoche reported delivery times of up to 10 months, which may concern customers in a hurry.
When contacted, Volkswagen France’s communications team stated that the current delivery time for an ID.Polo is “four months,” a figure typical for a new model. Additionally, some units pre-ordered since spring will be delivered before this deadline.
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Raising Production Volume
When a new model is launched, the national subsidiaries (such as Volkswagen France, Volkswagen Italy, Volkswagen Belgium…) usually reserve quotas of vehicles among the first units to leave the factory.
Automobile brands also control the increase in production volume based on their economic interests. Models with the most advanced features and/or larger batteries are generally given priority. This is the case here, as the 52 kWh version comes before the 37 kWh one.
The Raval Too
It should be noted that the Volkswagen ID.Polo is manufactured at the Martorell plant near Barcelona, Spain. It shares its production lines with the recent Cupra Raval. Before launching these two models, the German group invested nearly 300 million euros, particularly to set up a production line capable of assembling 300,000 batteries per year or to acquire a new large-scale stamping press. The Raval has also had a successful launch, with Cupra’s Germany head telling Autohaus that there is “a global demand twice as high as expected.”
Both vehicles are based on the same MEB+ platform and alternate in production at the Catalan plants. They feature the new APP290 machine as well as what are known as Unified cell batteries. Amidst difficult times for the German group, these successes represent a ray of hope.