Volkswagen’s ID Buzz electric van nearly sold-out last year after receiving over 10,000 orders. This is impressive, as a single customer had yet to see or drive one.
The VW ID BUZZ
VW revealed the production version of the VW ID BUZZ in March 2022 after years of anticipation; it is a new version of the legendary VW minibus reinvented as a more luxurious electric van, but with echoes of the old classic.
It has a sizable 82 kWh battery pack that provides over 200 miles of range with various seat arrangements. It has a trunk capacity of 39.5 cubic feet, which increases to 77.8 cubic feet when the rear seats are folded down.
We discovered early last year that the price is higher than anticipated, starting at £57,115 (roughly $67,500). However, that did not discourage many buyers, as Volkswagen had received over 10,000 orders in Europe, where it opened orders in various markets.
Lars Krause, head of sales for VW Commercial Vehicles, disclosed the number to employees of the Volkswagen plant in Hanover, Germany, where the ID Buzz is manufactured, according to an Automobilwoche report:
“Volkswagen’s ID Buzz full-electric van is already sold out for months before the start of deliveries, with advance sales having now passed the 10,000 mark, led by demand in Norway, followed by Germany.”
With 3,400 ID Buzz vehicles on order, Norway is in the lead. Germany, VW’s home country, comes in second with 2,500 ID Buzz orders. The Netherlands ranks fourth with 1,100 electric van orders, while Belgium has 1,000.
Krause noted:
“10,000 orders, without the car actually being at the dealer, let alone a customer having driven it. That is just impressive. I am very pleased that the ID Buzz and the ID Buzz Cargo are already selling so well. We are, after all, still in the launch phase, before the market launch.”
Production Ramp Up
In May, series production began in Hanover. On November 15, 2022, a Cargo model of the ID Buzz was shipped to Wolfgang Kempe GmbH in Isernhagen as the first ID Buzz to leave the production line.
By the end of 2022, only 15,000 vehicles were expected to be manufactured, meaning that over two-thirds of them had already been sold. But not all of these cars will go to customers. Instead, the first 6,000 will go to dealers’ showrooms, and the rest will go to customers.
The executive emphasized that electric vehicle sales have yet to begin in France and the United Kingdom, where it might be popular. Deliveries to the United States are anticipated to start in early 2024.
VW wants to ramp up production quickly. This year, it plans to make 60,000 units, and when the electric van eventually comes to North America, it wants to be producing 130,000 units per year.
In addition to the success of the VW ID BUZZ, it’s worth noting that a Japanese man named Osamu Furukawa has turned a classic VW Beetle into an electric vehicle dubbed “e-Bug.” Additionally, VW has launched an electric conversion kit for the classic Volkswagen Beetle, allowing owners to transform their gas guzzlers into electric vehicles. This shows that the company is not only focused on creating new electric vehicles but also on finding ways to make existing vehicles more sustainable.
