The shift to EVs is causing some legacy automakers some problems, particularly those who want to leverage decades of nameplate recognition. Carmakers from Germany, are a prime example with BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and now, Volkswagen all backtracking on their newfangled EV nameplates.
BMW was the first to announce the change, dropping the “i” suffix on its gas-powered models to avoid confusion with the “i” prefix that’s attached to their all-electric vehicles. Over at Mercedes-Benz, they’re phasing out the “EQ” family in favor of a return to the familiar alphabet-derived family naming convention. And then, there’s Audi which ditched the odd-numbered gas-powered and even-numbered EV models in favor of adding the words, “e-tron” at the end of its BEV models.
Take note: all of this happened in a span of just two years.
Now, Volkswagen is admitting to a similar hiccup with their “ID” family. Starting from 2026, the automaker is axing its number-based model naming for a return to familiar designations derived from their combustion-engine models. The first model to get it? The ID. Polo.
“Our model names are firmly anchored in people’s minds. They stand for a strong brand and embody characteristics such as quality, timeless design, and technologies for all. That’s why we’re moving our well-known names into the future,” admits Thomas Schäfer, CEO of the Volkswagen brand.
Volkswagen will transfer more established names to the electric portfolio with each new model generation. At the same time, all vehicles with conventional drives will continue to run under their previous names.
With the Polo small hatchback celebrating its 50th anniversary next year, it makes sense for Volkswagen to do the name change first with this model. Also confirmed that a high-performance EV version, dubbed the ID. Polo GTI will also be made available.
Volkswagen introduced the naming of the ID. family in 2018. It designates the stand-alone all-electric product range in the Volkswagen brand portfolio. The first model to be launched was the ID.3.
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