2024 Volkswagen ID.Buzz: Expressions of interest open ahead of release

Volkswagen Australia has opened expressions of interest for the ID.Buzz electric van ahead of the first local arrivals in December 2024.

Pricing and features are yet to be confirmed, so for now, VW is aiming to gauge how much buzz there is for the van locally.

Volkswagen will offer several body styles (detailed here) with demand dictating market share.

Part of the ID.Buzz's roadshow will be its Australian public debut at the Volkswagen Cronulla Surf Masters championship on 21 October.

Alongside the surfing event will be a Kombi Rally, with classic VW vans on display at Peryman Square, Cronulla, in Sydney’s south.

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With the van gaining Australian technical approval and production start date from head office, the ID.Buzz is getting steadily closer to our shores.

“There is nothing on the road that melds love-brand heritage with new-age technical sophistication quite like the ID. Buzz,” said Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles director Ryan Davies.

“In three weekends’ time, Aussies can see the first ID. Buzz on our shores at the Volkswagen Cronulla Surf Masters and they are now able to register their interest for the five-seat, seven-seat or Cargo van body styles at the Volkswagen Australia website.”

“We anticipate the coolest battery electric vehicle may quickly become the hottest ticket in town for families, retirees, tradies, surfers and the environmentally conscious all told”, said Mr Davies.

Our original story, below, continues unchanged.

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June 2023: ID.Buzz Australian deliveries to begin in late 2024, early 2025

Australia-bound builds of the funky, retro-inspired Volkswagen ID.Buzz will hit the assembly line in late 2024, the brand has confirmed today.

The news follows a whirlwind media tour in Sydney last year, when Volkswagen confirmed it was waiting on final approval to launch the cargo-carrying and people-moving pair in Australia.

Following the ID.Buzz’s global reveal in March 2022, the vans were featured at VW Australia’s end-of-year event where Wheels was given a chance to walk around, touch, poke, feel and ask plenty of questions about the Kombi’s rebirth in an electric era.

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The local Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles business had been keen to secure those vehicles for some time – initially hatching a plan to straight-up buy a pair from the UK before being offered two evaluation vehicles by head office.

Today's long-anticipated news is joined by confirmation that the local ID range will properly fire up in 2024, with the ID.4 and ID.5 medium SUVs and the facelifted ID.3 electric small car all due here next year.

That's later than the brand hoped, but they'll at least launch with critical updates – especially the sub-$60k ID.3 hatch, now coming to its mid-life facelift.

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ID.Buzz will come in high-spec trims

The vans shown to Australian media in December included a Pro grade people-mover, and ID.Buzz Cargo Commerce Pro. Both are top-spec models, reflecting Australia’s penchant for high-end trims.

“The vehicles on show are really specced up so that we can look at every single offering in this particular car and make an informed decision moving forward, rather than bringing a low-spec car and saying: ‘I wonder what this [placeholder button] did?’”, said head of marketing and product, Volkswagen Commercial vehicles, Nathan Johnson.

Inside the bayleaf green two-tone ID.buzz Pro is colour-matched cloth upholstery with white leather accents, a 10-inch infotainment touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay, an ID digital driving display and matrix LED headlights.

Further clever features inside include the ‘Buzz Box’, a removable centre console with pull-out drawers, bottle-opener and ice scraper.

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Final specification for Australia will be locked in closer to its local launch, but expect our cars to be have a high level of equipment.

As for the Cargo, it gets more practical black cloth upholstery with a black steering wheel, but the same infotainment system and digital cockpit. The Buzz Cargo has a 650kg payload, with space in the back for a pair of euro palettes.

“The ID.Buzz is a people mover that stops traffic, people stop, stare and smile. It’s an incredible blend of style and function that will capture the imagination of Australians – and is reflected by our ambitious sales volumes,” said Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles boss Ryan Davies.

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“We expect the ID.Buzz Cargo to sell at least as well, and it’s incredibly appealing for sole traders who want to reduce their emissions in the most fun way possible. This is a proper, 'from the ground up' tradies’ BEV – not a tacked-on reverse engineering of an existing diesel vehicle.”

Davies' comment there can be interpreted as a sporting swipe at the LDV eT60 and Mercedes-Benz EQV – and at Ford, which is launching its EV-converted E-Transit and E-Transit Custom vans in Australia.

It's a cheeky quip, given VW and Ford are now deeply entwined in a tech- and platform-sharing partnership, but the unrelated ID.Buzz and E-Transit models do not currently form part of the program. (The new Amarok is based on the Ford Ranger, and Ford's new ID.4-sized Explorer EV is built on VW's MEB electric platform.)

June 3, 2023: Long-wheelbase revealed, Australian arm keen

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STORY CONTINUES

Volkswagen ID.Buzz power and driving range

The ID.Buzz range is underpinned by Volkswagen’s dedicated MEB electric platform, hosting a 77kWh battery pack with driving ranges of 423 kilometres (WLTP) for the people-mover, and 425km (WLTP) for the cargo.

Driving range with a full payload is likely to be shorter for ID.Buzz Cargo owners, but Volkswagen said it’s happy with what’s been achieved.

“The average person who’s going to be buying the ID.Buzz will be travelling 20-30kms a day. And potentially charging at home. These more commercial-purpose cars; it's not common that people are doing over 300-400 a day. So we see that as plenty”, Davies said.

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Fast-charging is capped at 170kW (DC) for a 5-80 per cent rejuice time of around 30 minutes. AC home-charging, meanwhile, maxes out at 11kW.

Outputs are reasonable, and the same as a Volkswagen ID.4, with 150kW of power and 310Nm of torque via a single rear motor.

VW Australia noted that Australian demand for an AWD model is likely to be strong, and there are more ID.Buzz variants in development with potential for larger batteries, a longer wheelbase and more power – including GTX variants.

The ID.Buzz’s vehicle-to-load capacity is currently capped at a 300W three-pin socket, however Nathan Johnson said demand for greater on-board outputs is under evaluation for the Australian market.

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When will the ID.Buzz reach Australia?

Exact launch timing will be confirmed in the future, but with Australian production beginning in late 2024, an early 2025 launch is likely.

By the time it gets here, we might also see the ID.Buzz launch in an updated form, adding more features and possibly an even greater driving range.

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ID.Buzz pricing for Australia

As an Australian release is still nearly two years away, VW has been reluctant to discuss price – but the ID.Buzz isn’t likely to be cheap.

Looking at UK pricing, an equivalent Pro people-mover would cost around AU$115,000 at a direct conversion rate. Not absurd next to an LDV Mifa 9, but certainly steeper than a Kia Carnival.

Final pricing could potentially be lower than $100K, given that the UK typically pays more for vehicles, but don’t expect a cheap-as-chips van.

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