VW EV concept: Golf-sized with Passat space, 250-300 mile range

[Suarez™]

Volkswagen today released teaser pictures of an electric car that it hopes will lead the automaker out of its diesel scandal and into an electrified future.

The near-production concept previews a compact EV with a long range that VW brand is expected to launch in early 2018 or 2019.

The EV will have a distinctive design to differentiate it from VW’s non-electric cars.

The production version will be the first VW to enter the market based on the automaker's new MEB (modular electrification kit) platform, the company said in a statement.

VW did not reveal any more information ahead of the concept's debut at the Paris auto show later this month. The concept "signals VW brand's entry into a new era," it said. "The vehicle is as revolutionary as the Beetle was seven decades ago," VW said.

Last month VW brand CEO Herbert Diess told the German news magazine WirtschaftsWoche that the EV will be the size of a Golf compact hatchback but with the interior space of the Passat midsize car. The extra room comes from the way the batteries have been packaged in the floor of the car.