Volkswagen Unveils a Budget Electric Car, Schafer

Volkswagen unveils Schafer, a high-quality, affordable EV designed for broad appeal, showcasing European automotive excellence.

Wolfsburg, Germany - Volkswagen AG., an automobile manufacturer, launches Schafer, an affordable entry-level electric vehicle. It aims to appeal to a wide range of users. Designed as a high-quality, profitable EV, Schafer embodies Volkswagen’s vision of an electric car built in Europe, representing the pinnacle of automotive engineering.

Mr. Thomas Schafer, CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand, said, “With the conclusion of negotiations in December 2024, we set the largest future plan in Volkswagen’s history in motion. We are pursuing an ambitious path to ensure we achieve our shared goals with full commitment. A key step in this is making e-mobility attractive for everyone – that is our brand promise. Wolfsburg would remain the center for innovation and production competence. The main plant would set new standards in automobile production.”

Ms. Daniela Cavallo, ChairwomN of the General and Group Works Council of Volkswagen AG, said, “The new all-electric entry-level model will be a Volkswagen in the genuine sense of the term. It is therefore appropriate that our employees at the Wolfsburg plant will be the first to have a preview of the design – before the general public.”

Affordable entry-level electric mobility is a key pillar of Volkswagen’s future strategy. Alongside the production version of the ID. 2all, the new electric model is part of the brand’s small EV family, developed under the Volkswagen Group's Brand Group Core. This lineup features compact all-electric vehicles built on the latest evolution of the modular electric drive (MEB) platform. The first in this series, the production version of the ID. 2all show car, is set to launch in 2026 as Volkswagen’s first fully electric small car.

Volkswagen Wolfsburg plant is set for a major transformation to support its electric future. With Golf production moving to Mexico, the facility will shift focus to manufacturing the next-generation electric Golf and T-Roc on the advanced Scalable Systems Platform (SSP). This shift comes as competition in the EV market intensifies, particularly from Chinese manufacturers. Meanwhile, VW’s electric sales continue to grow, with 1.35 million ID vehicles sold globally since 2019, including 500,000 ID.3 models. In 2023 alone, VW delivered 383,100 electric vehicles.