One of the most iconic vehicles ever built was the Volkswagen Microbus. With a look that was singular, a large VW badge up front and the feeling of being able to hit the road for the fun and adventure that we want this was the original go anywhere minivan. In the 1960s if you wanted to go somewhere for the ride and the fun you chose the Microbus. This cool vehicle has been known to be the right one for the hippie crowd or the beach bums to drive and show off.
Recently, the new I. D. Buzz concept was shown to us at the Detroit Auto Show. This new vehicle is the first in a line of models that will come from Volkswagen and ride on the new Modular Electric Drive (MEB) platform, but this isn’t the most exciting part of what this new vehicle brought to the show. This new VW model came in and won the concept car of the year from Popular Mechanics and is a vehicle that could begin the next phase of what VW will have for us to drive as they move forward in the market.
The most exciting and the emotional part of what the I. D. Buzz will be is the fact this vehicle is a new Microbus with the EV platform. This is the perfect vehicle to have an electric-drive system installed because the size allows the batteries and workings of the system to be put on the floor while giving the world one of the most iconic looks for us to instantly become emotionally attached to the vehicle. There is still a strong emotional pull for VW in the market and the proof of that shows up when each of the VW Beetle models continues to be sold.
While this new vehicle was considered simply a concept model at first, Volkswagen has stated they will put this vehicle to production, allowing us to begin to enjoy the I. D. Buzz on the roads as early as 2022. There will be another model that is expected to make its way to the market on this platform before the Microbus version. That vehicle will be a Golf-sized I. D. hatchback that will be produced as early as 2020, making it the first production model to ride on this platform and become the one we want to drive.
So far the team at VW has stated the I. D. Buzz should have an EV range of 270 miles on a single charge and may come with as much as 369 horsepower in order to give us plenty of power. We’ll know more as these two vehicles make their way to the market, but it seems like the early part of the next decade may give us the chance to see a variety of beach bum going Microbus styled EVs to be an emotional and environmental gem that we’ll want to enjoy and drive on the road.
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