VW's cheap new EVs ID.Polo and Skoda Epiq are sold out for months

While much of the industry laments weak EV demand, Volkswagen's new entry-level electric cars are selling faster than they can be built: the VW ID.Polo and its Skoda sibling Epiq are reported sold out for months, with delivery times of around ten months. Production is being ramped up.

Key Takeaways

While much of the industry laments weak EV demand, Volkswagen's new entry-level electric cars are selling faster than they can be built: the VW ID.Polo and its Skoda sibling Epiq are reported sold out for months, with delivery times of around ten months.
Production is being ramped up.

AI synthesis4 sources8

While much of the industry complains about weak electric-car demand, Volkswagen is struggling with the opposite problem: its new small EVs are selling out faster than the factories can build them. German media report that the VW ID.Polo and the closely related Skoda Epiq are sold out for months.

According to trade publication Automobilwoche, the ID.Polo — VW's new entry-level electric model, which went on sale this year at a base price of around 23,000 euros — is already sold out for months even though production is being ramped up. Delivery times of at least ten months are being quoted. The Skoda Epiq, the Czech sister brand's small electric SUV unveiled in May, is likewise sold out for months, and demand for the sportier Cupra Raval is strong as well. Industry reports put the combined order backlog of the group's small-EV family at more than 70,000 vehicles.

The trio is Volkswagen's answer to years of criticism that European manufacturers had abandoned the affordable end of the electric market, leaving it to cheaper Chinese rivals. Positioned at the price level of comparable combustion cars, the models were widely seen as a key test of whether affordable EVs can revive European demand. The initial response suggests pent-up demand is real: dealers report full order books, and Volkswagen is stepping up production to shorten waiting times.

The sold-out order books are a rare bright spot for the European EV market, which has been struggling with sagging demand and the phase-out of purchase subsidies. They signal that buyers in the small-car segment — long dismissed as unprofitable for battery-electric vehicles — are willing to make the switch when the price is right. For now, the bottleneck is not demand but production capacity.