VW News: Volkswagen ID.Buzz Coming to the U.S. in Long-Wheelbase Form

[Drew Dowdell]

Volkswagen has been teasing us with the I.D. Buzz for 6-years when they made the announcement back in 2017 that they would bring the I.D. Buzz to market.

The standard wheelbase model has been on sale in Europe since May of last year, and today, Volkswagen is officially announcing the long-wheelbase version for sale in the U.S. starting next year. The ID.Buzz will not, as previously reported, be built at VW's Chatanooga plant alongside the ID.4, instead being built in VW's Hanover Germany plant.

Powering the LWB ID.Buzz is a new 210 kW (286 hp) electric drive motor and a newer, larger 85 kWh battery, an increase over the standard length model of 201 kW and 81 kWh, respectively.

Later, there will be an all-wheel drive model called the ID.Buzz GXT with 250 kW (339 hp) that can get to 60 in 6.4 seconds. Helping to keep the range up is a new heat pump HVAC system in all versions.

While the photos make it look small, at 195 inches long, it is two inches longer than a standard wheelbase Jeep Grand Cherokee and the same length as a VW Atlas Cross Sport.  But with no internal combustion equipment to take up space, the ID.Buzz offers seating for up to seven people and a cavernous interior. It is likely that the ID.Buzz will offer more room than even full-size mini-vans from Chrysler, Honda, and Toyota.

A panoramic smart-roof is offered that can adjust from transparent to opaque with the touch of a slider or a voice command. North American versions will also offer air-conditioned seats.

The official reveal with more details will come later today.

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[David]

I can see this being a hit and will force Chrysler to move forward with a modern EV update to their Minivan as will the asian brands that still build minivans.

[Drew Dowdell]

I like the look, but I feel like the passenger side windows are a bit weird. I'll have to try out to see how effective they are.

[smk4565]

I think this would sell quite well unless they price it at $60,000+ and then not enough people will be able to justify that much on a van.  

[David]

2 hours ago, smk4565 said:

I think this would sell quite well unless they price it at $60,000+ and then not enough people will be able to justify that much on a van.  

Will be interesting to see as it is selling out for the current production year in Europe at a starting price of $64,581 Euros which is $69,133.96 U.S. dollars in today's exchange rate 6-2-2023.

[smk4565]

42 minutes ago, David said:

Will be interesting to see as it is selling out for the current production year in Europe at a starting price of $64,581 Euros which is $69,133.96 U.S. dollars in today's exchange rate 6-2-2023.

"Selling out" at what production level?  I doubt it is even one of VW's top 5 sellers.

[David]

On 6/2/2023 at 5:30 PM, smk4565 said:

"Selling out" at what production level?  I doubt it is even one of VW's top 5 sellers.

Just like Tesla and Mercedes, Selling out can mean many things and VW is not stating how many they are going to produce for this year, so it can be many things of German Deception, no different than Tesla Deception.