Volkswagen has seemingly bet the farm on electric vehicles, but now it has been forced to abandon its most affordable electric car, the ID.3 Pure edition thanks to the ongoing global semiconductor shortage. It only introduced the Pure edition of the ID.3 in January but now it is unavailable. While it is not known if this SKU of the car is cancelled indefinitely or this is temporary unavailability, the impact of the global semiconductor shortage is certainly being felt.
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It starts at $37,431 before incentives in Germany which would make it even cheaper and has a 45 kWh battery with a 93 kW motor with a WLP range of 330 kilometres and a maximum charging speed of 50 kW.
"Due to the ongoing supply bottlenecks in semiconductors, there is currently limited availability of various entry-level models. As these versions are generally rarely chosen by customers - only around 2-3% of Golf buyers opt for the basic model of the Golf - Volkswagen decided to temporarily reduce the offer," said Volkswagen in a statement.
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The Volkswagen ID.3 is currently on sale in Europe
"Vehicles that have already been ordered will of course be produced. New orders for the vehicles mentioned will be possible again at the beginning of next year. By reducing the number of variants, the high order backlog can also be processed more quickly so that delivery times are not extended any further," the German giant explained, indicating the fact that it has not cancelled the vehicle.
Chances are this is perhaps just an excuse for abandoning an SKU which hasn't done well as the difference is just the battery back not the chipsets that are being used in the car. Volkswagen is just using the excuse of the semiconductor crisis to terminate the model as it can't be left with dead inventory.
