VW unveils adorable electric ID. Buzz, US sales begin in 2024

Enlarge / Volkswagen's ID. Buzz will have the electric minivan market to itself when it arrives in 2024. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

Volkswagen provided a night in a hotel and a flight from Washington, DC, to Los Angeles and back so we could have some time with the ID. Buzz. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

Nostalgia is a powerful emotion, particularly when you're selling things. That's why automakers regularly dip into their back catalogs to dust off a beloved nameplate or silhouette and marry it to modern underpinnings.

And you can't get much more modern than a battery-electric powertrain, as in the case of Volkswagen's new ID. Buzz. (Yes, the name has a period in it.) The company that gave us the new Beetle based on the much-loved old Beetle has now drawn inspiration from its iconic T1 Microbus. Although we saw the initial ID. Buzz concept back in 2017, the vehicle is back as a production model. It goes on sale in Europe next year and in the US in 2024.

If you don't want a two-tone paint job for the ID. Buzz, that's possible. But we think the two-tone will be more popular. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

Depending how you look at it, the ID. Buzz has been two decades in the making. Back in 2001, Volkswagen designed a new Microbus, which looked cool but never progressed past the concept stage. Ten years later, VW tried again with Bulli. Although Bulli looked less gainly than the Microbus, it was perhaps a more realistic representation of a production van, with a bulging nose to accommodate an engine bay and front impact protection.

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