“The Chattanooga plant has been, and will continue to be, a cornerstone of Volkswagen’s strategy in the United States,” said VW Group of America president and CEO Kjell Gruner. “This strategic shift underscores the company’s commitment to Chattanooga and its workforce as we position the plant for long-term success and future product opportunities.”

If you still want an ID.4, VW says it has sufficient inventory at dealers “to support customer demand into 2027,” and the post-refresh models are both more powerful but also more efficient than earlier cars.

But it does leave the prospect of VW not having any electric cars to sell at some point; in December, the company revealed it was selling so few ID.Buzz minivans that it would simply not bother with a model year 2026 at all, ceasing imports. (In retrospect, that really does make this one of the worst headlines of my entire career.)

In this case, VW says “a future version of the ID.4 is currently planned for the North American market; details will be shared at a later time.” If and when that car appears, it may well be rebadged as the ID.Tiguan.