There are echoes of Volkswagen in its late-1990s pomp about its latest model: the ID 7. Longer even than the combustionengined Arteon fastback, this is a visibly substantial electric saloon that takes the Wolfsburg company into direct competition with uppermid-sized executive rivals like the BMW i5 and Mercedes-Benz EQE.
When Ferdinand Piëch led Volkswagen to make the upscale Phaeton more than two decades ago, it served a rather different purpose: to make a statement and inspire a community of designs and engineers. The ID 7 is a rather more serious effort, but the ambition bound up in it seems similar.