The Volkswagen electric microbus van will be built in Germany and exported globally, including to North America when it goes into production in 2022, says Johan de Nysschen, chief operating officer of Volkswagen of America. The VW bus is back, baby, which we already knew. Besides its assembly location, here is the latest on the bus’s name and how VW plans to bring it to market, from the mouth of de Nysschen himself.
Yes, we called it the microbus—the name applied to its spiritual hippie-era predecessor—but so far the new one has also informally gone by I.D. Buzz, the name of the electric bus concept that presaged it. And in his interview with MotorTrend, de Nysschen says I.D. Buzz is what they call it internally. “There is no formal name yet.” Not to micromanage their bus plans, but has “Microbus” come up yet?
The I.D. Buzz concept has been around for a while. We even drove it in 2017. Hence, that name still sticks. When the ID Buzz or whatever VW calls it becomes a reality, it will be a low-volume niche vehicle that only needs a single plant to supply all global demand. While Volkswagen concentrates on bread-and-butter small cars for Europe and Asia, and its growing lineup of crossovers for North America and the rest of the world, the bus will be a lifestyle vehicle.
It is intended to show the fun side of VW, an important role given the raft of electric vehicles coming from the automaker’s modular electric-vehicle platform known as MEB. That architecture has spawned a raft of VW concept cars and SUVs, all with “I.D.” in their names. The first production MEB vehicle, a small four-door hatchback for Europe, has the formal name of I.D. 3 and looks about as interesting as a toaster. De Nysschen said the VW Group has made the decision to use ID for the family name of electric vehicles—it’s the Buzz part that has not been locked down for the far more exciting microbus (if we type it enough, will it become a thing?).
Similarly, executives have been referring to the electric compact vehicle headed to the U.S. as the I.D. 4. Again, de Nysschen says the name has not been confirmed. We think it is just a formality for the small crossover that is based on the ID Crozz concept. What is confirmed is it will eventually be built in the expanded VW plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Another MEB concept we love is the I.D. Buggy, a two-seat electric dune buggy shown at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. Herbert Diess, chairman of the Volkswagen AG Board of Management, said he wanted to see it produced. We were told German electric vehicle startup e-Go Mobile would build them in the low volumes needed. But little progress has been made to actually get the dune buggy–esque EV to market. No business plan has been presented to the board and no decisions have been made. Given how VW is investing $66 billion by 2023 in electrification, mobility and digital technology—“We’re throwing down the gauntlet,” de Nysschen says—we think the automaker needs to be considering any and all potential EVs, the I.D. Buggy included. After all, Volkswagen intends to sell 22 million EVs globally by 2029.
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Source: WORLD NEWS
