The all-new Volkswagen ID.7 has been closely previewed by this camouflaged prototype at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Volkswagen ID 7: what is it?

The ID.7, previously known as the ID Aero concept car, will be offered first as a five-door liftback, and in time, as an estate too.

It is the sixth model to be launched in the ID range and will initially sit alongside the Volkswagen Arteon and Passat, the latter will only be offered as an estate in its next generation. In time, it will become VW’s only offering in Europe’s shrinking D-segment as no further versions of the Arteon and Passat are due once the switch to EVs is made.

“Globally, the saloon segment is disappearing, even in China,” VW boss Thomas Schafer told our sister publication Autocar UK. “In China, it’s already happening in the low-price saloons. It is going down in Europe; it's never been huge, except for a handful of markets, maybe Turkey, but we will definitely not bring a lot of saloons. This is it [ID.7] and we converge onto that when we let go of the combustion engine.”

Volkswagen ID 7: dimension and powertrain

The MEB-based ID.7 is 4,940mm long, 1,859mm wide and 1,529mm high, and has a wheelbase of 2,969mm that it shares with the Volkswagen ID Buzz. This makes the ID.7 longer than both the Passat and the Arteon.

The car showcased at CES wears the ID.7’s production bodywork, but it is wrapped in a special QR code-inspired camouflage to hide its final styling. A full reveal will happen in the second quarter of 2023, before the ID.7 goes on sale later in the year.

The camouflage is called Electroluminescent, and is made up of 40 layers of paint. Electric current passes through this and lights up 22 different sections of the car.

VW has disclosed few technical details ahead of the ID.7’s full reveal, however, it has confirmed that it would be offered with a range of up to 700km. This will be in a larger-battery model, a size of battery yet to be offered in an ID car. The ID.7 will initially come with the existing largest 77kWh pack.

The Aero name used previously referred to its super-slippery shape, and a drag coefficient as low as 0.23Cd is expected for the final production model.

Volkswagen ID 7: interior

Inside, there are notable developments and improvements over the ID models to date. The infotainment system has been overhauled to bring temperature controls to the main homepage of the 15-inch touchscreen, and the physical temperature slider bar below the screen has been illuminated at last to allow it to be useful at night.

There are also smart air vents that begin to cool or heat the car when it detects the keyholder is close, and also heat the steering wheel as needed. An augmented reality head-up display is standard.

Volkswagen ID 7: rivals

The Volkswagen ID.7 will initially be two-wheel drive with a four-wheel-drive GTX model confirmed to launch in due course, ultimately giving a powertrain line-up that mirrors that of its main rivals: the Tesla Model 3, Polestar 2 and Hyundai Ioniq 6.