VW e-Up likely to be available for order again soon

It is small, sensible, and timeless – but unfortunately low-margin: The E-Up, which, despite the order stop imposed in 2020, was one of the top-selling electric cars in 2021. With the higher environmental bonus and innovation premium, the e-Up suddenly became very attractive price-wise. In 2021, the e-Up had a total of 30,797 new registrations, making it the second best-selling electric car in Germany behind Tesla's Model 3 and ahead of its siblings ID.3 and ID.4. In December 2021, 79 percent (!) of all registered VW Up vehicles were electric, and for the entire year of 2021, 66 percent of Up registrations were for the electric version.

But as mentioned, the Up is inherently low-margin. And after the manufacturer's share of the subsidies here amounted to 3000 euros, the Up likely became even lower-margin or even a loss-making venture for VW. Additionally, the production volume of the mini electric car was never scaled to meet the high demand. There were also uncertainties regarding the subsidies, which VW cited as a reason for the order stop, because: The environmental bonus of 9,570 euros was initially set to expire on December 31, 2021. But already in September 2020, VW stated that delivery times had increased to up to 16 months. This meant new customers would receive their E-Up only at the beginning of 2022 – and whether the full subsidy amount would still be available then was not clear.

According to the platform "Electrive Net," demand for the E-Up remains unbroken. Some dealers have reportedly started creating interest lists for potential buyers to inform them as soon as the E-Up becomes available again. According to "Electrive.Net," VW has confirmed upon inquiry that they intend to reintroduce the E-Up into the order program. A spokesperson indicated to "Electrive.Net" that this would probably be the case from mid-February 2022. The only "restriction" could be parts availability: If there should be a bottleneck in chips or other key components, VW would likely allocate them to the higher-margin ID. models first.

What does this mean?

The E-Up is one of the most ingenious and timeless VW models. It's a shame that it has such low margins and carries the burden of being a "retrofitted" electric vehicle. Because fundamentally, it already offers everything needed for balanced and sensible electric mobility on a wonderfully small traffic footprint. This means it could theoretically continue to be built indefinitely as long as the demand remains strong – and there are so few alternatives. It's great that it is now making a return.