Volkswagen teases “revolutionary” Trinity EV

VOLSKWAGEN has teased what it describes as a “revolutionary” new electric sedan dubbed the Trinity, currently earmarked for a global launch sometime in 2026.

While still a fair way off, the brand is already promising “new standards in range, charging speed and digitalisation” in conjunction with Level 4 autonomous driving features.

Set to be a focal point of the new ‘Accelerate’ strategy, the Trinity will ride on a newly developed electronics platform with state-of-the-art software and will reportedly herald the beginning of a new production era for Volkswagen.

“We will completely rethink the way we build cars and introduce revolutionary approaches. Digitalisation, automation and lightweight construction play an important role here,” Volkswagen CEO Ralf Brandstatter said.

“In the future, the individual configuration of the vehicle will no longer be determined by the hardware at the time of purchase.

“Instead, customers will be able to add functions on demand at any time via the digital ecosystem in the car.”

According to Mr Brandstatter, the Trinity is a “crystallisation point” for the Accelerate strategy as well as “a lighthouse project” and “software dream car” for the brand.

“We are using our economies of scale to make autonomous driving available to many people and to build a learning neural network,” he said.

No concrete details have been released as yet save for a single darkened teaser image revealing a long and low silhouette bookended by a narrow set of head- and tail-lights.

Described by designers as a “flat, sporty sedan”, it is almost inevitable that comparisons will be made between the Trinity and established electric sedans like the Tesla Model S however only time will tell what sort of range, power, performance and technology the former eventuates with.

As for the Trinity’s chances of local introduction, Volkswagen Group Australia (VGA) has reiterated its interest in offering electric vehicles Down Under time and time again and so we expect the new sleek sedan to be a starter here, albeit a bit behind the European and North American markets.

VGA does not currently offer any electric or hybrid products across its Volkswagen or Skoda portfolios however all that is expected to change sometime next year with the launch of the ID. family of EVs.

When the first ID.s do touch down, they will be sent straight into battle against Hyundai Motor Group’s looming Ioniq portfolio as well as other challengers closer to home like the Skoda Enyaq and Audi E-Tron range.

Volkswagen sales are down 16.7 per cent year-on-year to the end of February (5731 vs 6879 in 2020).