Volkswagen Trademarks the Name ID. UP for a Planned 20,000-Euro Electric Car in 2027

Volkswagen has filed a trademark for the name ID. UP, a clue that its planned entry-level electric car, due in 2027 at around 20,000 euros, or about $22,000, may revive the old Up! nameplate, Electrek reported. The applications were filed on Oct. 22, 2026, with the European Union Intellectual Property Office and Germany's DPMA. Volkswagen brand CEO Thomas Schäfer said last March, after unveiling the ID. EVERY1 concept, that the new entry-level EV was "the last piece of the puzzle." The production model will sit below the ID. Polo in the Electric Urban Car Family of compact, affordable electric cars.

Volkswagen's current entry-level EV lineup includes the ID. Polo, ID. Cross, the Cupra Raval and Skoda Epiq, all based on the new MEB+ platform. After launching lower-priced standard versions of the ID. Polo and ID. Cross at 24,995 euros and 27,995 euros respectively, the company is preparing a still smaller, cheaper EV for next year. The trademark follows earlier reports that VW planned to revive the Up! name as it moves away from numerical names such as ID.3 and ID.4. Like the ID. Polo, the ID. UP is expected to use a 37 kilowatt-hour lithium iron phosphate battery to hold costs down. The ID. Polo with that battery offers a WLTP range in the same compact class, though Electrek said Volkswagen has kept most details of the smaller model secret so far.

A trademark filing is not a production confirmation, a final price list, or a U.S. sales plan. The 20,000-euro figure is the company's previously stated starting-price target for 2027, not a dealer invoice, and currency conversions will move with the exchange rate. The ID. UP name, if it is approved and used, would place the cheapest electric Volkswagen in a lineage of city cars rather than in the numbered ID. series. Until Volkswagen publishes specifications, the 37 kWh LFP pack remains an informed expectation based on the Polo, not a confirmed factory sheet for the smaller car.

The verified news is a pair of October trademark applications and the existing 2027 price target. It is not a launch event, and it is not evidence that an ID. UP is already on sale or coming to North America. The price gap is the point of the trademark story: if the 20,000-euro target holds, the ID. UP would undercut the ID. Polo's 24,995-euro standard version and the ID. Cross at 27,995 euros, completing the cheaper end of the Electric Urban Car Family that Schäfer called the last piece of Volkswagen's entry-level puzzle.