Putting Fewer Volks Into Fewer Wagons

Volkswagen announced this week that it will no longer produce the all-electric ID.4 in the US.

Instead, all capacity at its Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant will be redirected to build the larger, gas-powered Atlas SUV.

For buyers in both the US and Canada, that means the ID.4 as we know it is effectively dead on arrival.

The remaining ID.4 inventory is expected to allow Volkswagen dealers to sell the vehicle into 2027.

Ironically, Volkswagen sold 22,373 ID.4s in 2025, making it the model that posted a sales increase that year.

Volkswagen insists that a future North American ID.4 is still planned.

Those plans are not forthcoming from Volkswagen HQ in Wolfsburg.

For several years, the ID.4 occupied an important symbolic position. It was Volkswagen’s mass-market electric crossover, built in America, sold across the continent, and meant to represent the company’s post-dieselgate reinvention.

Yet the official explanation for its cancellation is blunt: the EV market has become too unpredictable, and Volkswagen now wants Chattanooga focused on products that it currently believes will generate more reliable revenue.

On a global scale, Volkswagen said earlier this year that EV demand is holding up.

Volkswagen reported in January that it delivered about 382,000 all-electric vehicles worldwide in 2025, down 0.2%.

It seems that wasn’t quite enough to keep the ID.4 alive.

Transitions are rarely clean. They lurch. They stall. They overshoot and correct.

A model gets cancelled, a factory gets reoriented, and the headlines invite us to declare the whole project over.

But history suggests something different.

Major technology shifts often look weakest in the moment when incumbents reveal how dependent they still are on legacy economics.

What Volkswagen’s decision really tells us is not that EVs are finished, but that the industry has not yet built a durable enough ecosystem to weather uncertainty.

So yeah, the end of the ID.4 in Canada and the US kinda sucks.

It removes an important electric option from the market and sends an uncomfortable signal about how quickly automakers can abandon stated ambitions.

BYD announced a partnership with KFC to develop a network of “nine-minute,” one-stop drive-thru locations in China. cnbc.com

Chinese electric truck maker Windrose makes first US delivery. reuters.com

BYD plans to open 20 dealerships in Canada this year. bloomberg.com

Stellantis is in advanced talks to develop Opel-badged EVs with Leapmotor in Spain. reuters.com

The case for building Leapmotor Chinese EVs in Canada. driving.ca

CATL wants to electrify global shipping fleets. ft.com

Elon’s revolutionary Starship Heavy rocket aims to land on Mars, but it could also redraw the map of the Earth and fundamentally change how we think about warfare. wsj.com

Elon’s xAI sues Colorado over AI anti-discrimination law. financialpost.com

Tesla registrations in Germany quadrupled in March. reuters.com

Tesla’s stock suffers the steepest drop of 2026 on disappointing deliveries. cnbc.com

Dutch regulators approved the use ​of Tesla’s self-driving software, requiring human supervision on highways and city streets. reuters.com

Tesla is un-cancelling its cancelled plans to build a smaller, cheaper EV. reuters.com

Tesla has added Sunwoda (also known as Xinwangda) as its fifth global power battery cell supplier, with LFP cells already shipping on Shanghai-built vehicles destined for export markets. electrek.co

Intel will help build Elon’s new Terafab AI chip factory. theverge.com

More coverage of Elon’s 14 children, their 4 moms, and also Grimes. instyle.com

AI-powered robotic guide dog uses voice to guide visually impaired users in real time. interestingengineering.com

Meet Abi, the AI-powered robot companion for senior care. washingtonpost.com

Oshkosh airport ground support robots take on air travel’s hidden costs. electrek.co

Amazon CEO says robotics is key to faster delivery and lower costs. therobotreport.com

Unitree’s cheapest $4K sport-ready R1 humanoid robot to hit US markets via AliExpress. interestingengineering.com

US motorists cut travel, shift habits as fuel prices surge post-Iran war. reuters.com

Used EV sales spike alongside gas prices. arstechnica.com

RAM 3500 driver switches to a Silverado EV, and the fuel savings are impressive. electrek.co

Three supertankers passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, marking what appears to be ‌the first vessels to exit the Gulf since the US-Iran ceasefire deal was announced. reuters.com

LG Energy posts larger-than-expected losses. bloomberg.com

Battery recycler Ascend Elements files for bankruptcy. techcrunch.com

The US Department of the Interior has missed the final deadline to appeal court rulings allowing five US East Coast offshore wind farms to continue construction. electrek.co

A California start-up built a solar-powered EV fast charger with no grid connection. The station connected 1,080 solar panels and a 3.4 MWh battery to keep it running 24/7. It’s free to use until May 31, then priced competitively at $0.30–$0.45/kWh. autoblog.com

ICYMI: Donut Lab launched a website to publish independent tests verifying that, in fact, its solid-state battery was real and spectacular. idonutbelieve.com

Kia’s new North American pickup is expected to arrive in Canada before 2030, with HEV and EREV options. driving.ca, caranddriver.com

Kia has delayed its plans ‌to build “software-defined vehicles” by about one year to 2028. reuters.com

BMW development chief says software now drives vehicle design. autonews.com

ICYMI: Hyundai also wants to sell you a truck (that looks like a truck). autoblog.com

Hyundai unveils two new IONIQ EV concepts, an electric sedan and family SUV. electrek.co

Hyundai resumes new Palisade SUV sales. reuters.com

Hyundai has a seat belt anchor problem. reuters.com

Ford has a windshield wiper problem. reuters.com

GM has a rearview camera problem. reuters.com

Chrysler CEO says there is a minivan “resurgence”. cnbc.com

The Rivian R2 will launch with 335 miles of range. arstechnica.com

Polestar CEO talks up used-car market as higher fuel prices spur shift to cheaper EVs. reuters.com

US carmakers say EU rules under consideration could keep full-size pickup trucks, including the Ford F-150, the Chevy Silverado and the Ram 1500, off European roads. reuters.com

Canada-US trade agreement talks unlikely to be resolved by July 1. thecanadianpressnews.ca

Uber and VW are testing their first ID.Buzz-based robotaxis on the streets of LA. theverge.com

Waymo and Waze are offering to share pothole data with cities to help prioritize which potholes should be filled first. techcrunch.com

Waymo hits the road in Nashville. mashable.com, waymo.com

Royal Enfield has officially launched its first electric motorcycle, the Flying Flea C6. electrek.co

Škoda designed a bicycle bell that can be heard through noise-cancellation headphones. theverge.com, youtube.com

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