After admitting it had lost touch with buyers, Volkswagen’s CEO promises to get it right with its new EV lineup launching this year. Volkswagen’s EV blitz kicks off next week, starting with the updated ID.3.

The ID.3 and ID.4 are among Volkswagen’s most popular electric vehicles, but they still haven’t lived up to expectations.

With the next-generation models arriving soon, the German automaker looks to get things right. Volkswagen brand CEO Thomas Schäfer admitted that “It was clear to me that we were actually losing our core” during a recent media event in Hamburg. He added the company lost that “special Volkswagen feel.”

Schäfer stressed the brand had lost that “special Volkswagen feel” with its current EV lineup, including the ID.3 and ID.4.

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Everything from the naming to the exterior and interior design was not “true Volkswagens,” Shafer told Auto Express and other media members.

Volkswagen’s brand boss promises to get things right with its next-generation EVs, starting next week with the refreshed ID.3 Neo set to make its official debut.

The ID.3 Neo is part of Volkswagen’s shift to names, rather than numbers, that will include the ID. Polo, ID. Cross, and ID. Tiguan, which will replace the ID.4.

Volkswagen first previewed the new design language with the ID. 2all concept, set to launch as the ID. Polo later this month.

Schäfer and VW’s tech development boss, Kai Grünitz, took in customer feedback through customer clinics to reinvent the brand, focusing on what drivers really wanted, rather than industry trends.

A few changes, including physical climate control buttons and exterior door handles, may seem like “small decisions,” Schäfer said, but that’s what its drivers are requesting. “And that’s why we bring back real buttons, usability, and also real car names you can understand immediately,” he added.

Volkswagen’s next-generation EVs will feature a new style, or what design chief Andreas Mindt calls “the secret sauce.”

Recent spy images show the refreshed ID.4 (ID. Tiguan) looks more like the current Tiguan, with a more traditional SUV profile and a squared-off front end (shown below).

Following the ID. Polo and ID. Polo GTI, Volkswagen will launch the ID. Cross, an electric equivalent to the T-Cross, this summer.

While the next-generation EVs are launching in Europe over the next few months, Volkswagen announced last week that it’s ending production of the ID.4 at its Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant later this month.

According to an Automotive News report earlier this year, the ID. Tiguan is expected to make its official debut by the end of 2026.

It will replace the ID.4 at VW’s plant in Emden, Germany. Volkswagen has yet to confirm if or when the ID. Tiguan will launch in the US.

The best-selling Volkswagen brand electric vehicles in the first quarter of 2026 included the ID.4/ ID.5 (25,000), ID.3 (19,600), and ID.7 (14,500). While sales were up 12% in Europe, Volkswagen Group’s total EV deliveries crashed 64% in China and 80% in the US.