The Volkswagen I.D. Vizzion is a furry mess

At the Geneva Motor Show, there’s a constant temptation for companies to do something extra flamboyant or eye-grabbing. Why have regular wheels when you can envelop them in metal armor instead? And do mirrors and door windows really need frames and bezels? It’s a good venue to explore outlandish design ideas and concepts, but Volkswagen’s I.D. Vizzion concept car seems to have been caught in the middle between this freewheeling Geneva spirit and the brand’s traditional reputation for building highly practical automobiles. That’s led to a weird blend of luxurious features and cheap materials.

The all-electric I.D. Vizzion will have a production version with a steering wheel and Level 4 autonomy on board, but the concept being shown off on the Geneva floor was the one with full autonomy and no human controls. To look at the expansive opening created by the Vizzion’s vast doors and the carpeted interior and contoured seating inside, you’d be reminded of Aston Martin’s similarly grand Lagonda concept car. But where the Aston Martin is sumptuous and enticing, VW’s carpet is made out of an unpleasant synthetic material, and the entire interior feels cheaper than it looks.

There’s not much in the way of features on the inside of the I.D. Vizzion: like most concepts, it’s minimal and stripped down, with only a shelf at the front of the car for tossing your sunglasses onto. There are wireless charging pods for phones, which are increasingly becoming a standard feature even in current production models.

On the outside, big, chunky LED strips adorn the front and rear of the car. Their unrefined shape doesn’t look appealing up close, and the LED-illuminated VW logo seems to cheapen rather than enhance the brand. The thing that comes to my mind when looking at the I.D. Vizzion isn’t the finesse or sophistication of Audi’s OLED tail lights, but rather the tacky LED sticks you can buy to colorize the inside of your gaming PC. It’s not a good look. At least VW does something useful with the LED bits at the doors: they replace the door handles with a touch-activated mechanized opening.

For its considerable size, the I.D. Vizzion offers surprisingly little practicality. It’s limited to a four-seat configuration, which works for Aston Martin’s luxe Lagonda, but here feels inadequate. Where the Lagonda and other limo concepts for the future feel indulgently spacious, the VW I.D. Vizzion just seems like it’s indulgently wasting space. (It’s possible I’m being uncharitable because I’m still offended by how daft and unpleasant to the touch that carpet is.)

Volkswagen has tried to borrow stylistic cues from its sporty Arteon, last year’s Geneva debutant from the brand, while also attempting to cherry-pick some features and ideas from the luxury car segment. That might be a decent tactic to try and deflect conversation away from the company’s ongoing Dieselgate headaches, but it doesn’t make for an attractive car or cohesive design. The I.D. Vizzion is weird because it shows a company that wants to have it all, but which is also conscious of how much that will cost. As much as I like the blood orange color it’s dressed up in here in Geneva, I’m struggling to understand many of the other decisions VW made with the I.D. Vizzion.