The long-awaited production version of the Volkswagen ID Buzz has landed, five years after the retro-futuristic EV reworking of the original Microbus was shown in concept form at the 2017 Detroit motor show.
Produced in the same commercial vehicle factory as the existing Volkswagen Multivan in Hanover, Germany, the latest addition to the all-electric Volkswagen ID line-up will go on sale in the UK in May in passenger and commercial vehicle guises - the latter known as the ID Buzz Cargo. The EV has made its debut at the New York motor show ahead of UK sales beginning in October.
Each variant of the new Volkswagen is available initially in single-motor, rear-wheel-drive guise. Power comes from the same rear-mounted synchronous electric motor as that used by other recently introduced ID models, with 201bhp and 228lb ft of torque.
Pricing for the ID Buzz has yet to be officially announced, but the line-up will start at around £40,000 for the van and increase to close to £50,000 for the MPV, which will compete against an increasing number of electric multi-seat rivals, including the Mercedes-Benz EQV. Three different specification levels are planned: Pure, Pro and Packs.
More powerful dual-motor, four-wheel-drive models are set to be added to the line-up in 2023, with an ID Buzz California camper van due to arrive in 2024.
The passenger ID Buzz offers a similar set of bodystyles to the combustion-powered Multivan. Alongside the initial five-seat standard-wheelbase model, Volkswagen also plans to introduce a seven-seat long-wheelbase variant in 2023. Both feature conventionally hinged front doors and sliding doors (optionally electrically powered) on either side at the rear, along with a large vertical tailgate that opens at bumper level.
The ID Buzz Cargo offers the choice of one or two sliding doors along the sides and either a single upward-hinging tailgate or windowless wing doors that open out on exposed steel hinges left and right at the rear.
Join the debate
Add your comment
I want to like this, for one it's not another SUV, but it doesn't seem as practical as it should be, with a fixed bench and only a 60:40 split, plus no 7 seat option on the standard wheelbase model despite its signficant external dimensions. Given this is meant to be practical vehicle it doesn't seem very clever.
Absolutely, after the many years of waiting it's pretty disappointing. For one thing, for a people carrier why is the middle seat in the second row not a proper seat? And VW seem to be making a big thing about the turning circle, but at 11 metres it's no better than a Peugeot 5008 so what's the big deal for a car this size? Definitely a case of style over substance, form over function... Good to see a new MPV but this is less than what one would expect from a new Touran or Sharan EV, to be honest.
Very nice and I would buy one.....if it had a combustion engine.