Volkswagen entered its new ID.4 electric SUVs into a few events in 2021, most notably the NORRA Mexican 1000 and the Rebelle Rally. I got a picture of my car with the Rebelle car at Autopia 2099 and I got a nicely architectural photo of the NORRA car in the show.
- Car: 2021 Volkswagen ID.4 First Edition RWD
- Location: Autopia 2099, Los Angeles, CA
- Photog: Chris Rosales (@chrishasacamera Twitter, Insta)
Automakers love to enter new products in events that test durability and offer advertising value to them. Often, they get to prove that cars normally perceived as fragile or unproven are actually robust. For example, Honda enters the Ridgeline into the NORRA 1000 regularly and Toyota trucks participate every year they can.
This ID.4 built for NORRA is seemingly the only truck VW has built for the event. It never entered the Tiguan or the Touareg and has no reason to tart up an Atlas. This gives the EV blob a cool distinction over other Dubbers. VW built custom tube-frame off-road trucks that use the Touareg name, but they were never actually anything close to the production car.
Even if it is just an exercise, I still enjoy seeing these things getting torn up in the desert. And it kind of works – it adds to the legend of any car that participates in the event. I very much doubt an ID.4 or even a Toyota Tacoma will do anything close to this sort of driving, but it is still nifty as hell.
As big as we could get it:
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