VW's ID 3 electric hatch snags over 10,000 preorders in 24 hours
There were so many people eager to place a 1,000-euro deposit that it crashed the preorder website.
We may have only recently learned what Volkswagen was planning on calling its new, affordable electric hatchback, the VW ID 3, but that hasn't stopped people from whipping themselves into a froth and inundating the company with over 10,000 preorders for the limited-edition launch version vehicle.
The ID 3 marks VW's first attempt at doing a large-scale preorder for one of its vehicles, though given the success it's seen so far, we'd expect this won't be the last. The preorder has been so big that it has wreaked havoc with the servers for the ordering portal and caused the site to go down, according to a news release today from VW.
So, if you're a chic European type and you want to toss your lot in with Volkswagen, how do you go about actually placing a preorder for the ID 3? First, you raid your sofa and the area under the seats of your current car for loose change until you manage to round up 1,000 euros. Then you visit VW's preorder site, hoping that it's still working, plug in your information and then wait.
Volkswagen plans to start production of the ID 3 at the end of 2019, with the first customer deliveries taking place sometime in the middle of next year. The vehicle won't be offered for sale in the US initially, but future models in the ID series of electric cars will be.