Volkswagen made it official today: It's bringing back one of America's most beloved vehicles, the microbus, this time as a fully electric van that will carry both people and cargo.
The German automaker has been teasing American customers with microbus concepts for more than a decade, including the I.D. Buzz concept shown earlier this year in Detroit and Geneva, but it's now real -- VW says the vehicle will debut in 2022.
The microbus has long been associated with California hippies and surfers, so VW executives traveled from Germany to make the announcement Saturday at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California.
"After the presentations at the global motor shows in Detroit and Geneva, we received a large number of letters and emails from customers who said, 'please build this car,’ ” Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess said in Pebble Beach.
It'll be one of many new electric models VW is set to introduce as it shifts its focus away from diesel engines, following a damaging scandal in which it admitted using software to cheat government emissions regulations.
VW's North American CEO, Hinrich J. Woebcken, called the I.D. BUZZ "the perfect balance between emotion, usability and sustainability, while also showcasing our technological leadership. The high seating position, cargo capacity, overall versatility and all-wheel drive option packaged into such an appealing design is just what our customers want from us. And it’s the perfect fit for the zero-emissions American lifestyle.”
The I.D. BUZZ will also be offered for business use as an electric delivery van, with some highly automated driving capabilities -- details yet to be announced.
