Here it is: Another look at Volkswagen’s modern Microbus.
Yesterday, Volkswagen debuted the coupe-fied ID.5 crossover and its GTX performance variant — neither of which are coming to the United States. So, let’s take a look at a VW that is coming to our market — the ID.Buzz. Up until this point, we’ve seen mostly concept-ish renderings of the German automaker’s modern take on the classic Microbus. This time, though, the van gets some production-minded updates. It looks even closer to hitting the streets than the cargo variant that hit LA a few years ago, and the autonomous prototype VW showed this summer.
Sadly, the company shared no more technical details on its upcoming van, but did at least share that more information is coming early next year. The closer we get to the inevitable launch, though, the clearer it is that the ID.Buzz will mirror its siblings in terms of styling, from the headlights to the light bar across the front end, to what we can see of the taillights. This model also sports real mirrors, and you can see the track for the rear doors (and actual door handles as well).
It’s looking more like a (fairly) normal, approachable van
On the performance front, we can also infer from the ID.4 and make an educated guess at what to expect. When the U.S.-spec ID.Buzz actually hits America, we’ll most likely see it in rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive forms. In the ID.4, at least, the rear-mounted engine puts out 201 horsepower, while the AWD version’s front motor brings the total output up to around 295 horsepower. That should be plenty of shove for a passenger van, but we’ll have to wait and see if VW makes tweaks for this application.
While the ID.4 nets up to 260 miles on a single charge, we could see a different figure here. Since it’s a larger vehicle, it’s not too farfetched to imagine it could land a bigger battery than its crossover stablemate.
We’re waiting to see not just what it will look like, but how much this modern interpretation on VW’s classic Type 2 will cost. Stay tuned for more updates in the near future! Check out our last look at the ID.Buzz from LA: