Skip to main content

VW’s ID Buzz Needs to Impress China Before it Becomes Real

If your life goals for the near future include recreating the Summer of Love, there’s some far-out news arriving from Volkswagen. Public reaction to the automaker’s electric I.D. Buzz concept proved positive enough to give executives confidence in European and American demand for the reborn Microbus.

Unfortunately for latter-day hippies and retirement-age flower children, their enthusiasm for this out-of-sight green machine won’t be enough for VW to start production. It seems that the model’s future hinges not on the Counter Culture Revolution, but the Cultural Revolution.

For VW to give the model a green light, the automaker must be confident in its global success. That means sparking interest not only in San Francisco, but also Beijing.

db2017au00543-750x500

According to Autocar, the automaker needs to be sure of Chinese buy-in.

“The concept has been well-received in the US and Europe,” VW design chief Klaus Bischoff told the publication at the Geneva Motor Show, “but the missing link is China. From the business case point of view it’s quite an investment – it needs a global green light. In the meantime, it’s thumbs up.”

After 16 years of Microbus-inspired concepts that went nowhere, one hopes VW has concluded that this can’t go on indefinitely. An EV model built on the company’s dedicated electric architecture would allow for authentic retro proportions, while the green element seems tailor-made to tap into the brand goodwill of the 1960s. It seems the company knows this.

At the concept’s launch late last year, VW sales and marketing head Jurgen Stackmann stated, “I think this is the most realistic shot ever at the Microbus coming.”

Designers in Wolfsburg are already working on turning the I.D. Buzz into a production-ready vehicle, Bischoff told Autocar. The model is “more than a show car,” he claimed. After previous failed attempts to resurrect the Microbus, Bischoff implied that this is the last kick at the can.

“I’ve tried quite a bit to bring this [the Microbus] to life,” he said. “This is the final temptation.”

If VW does decide to go ahead with the model, it would appear alongside an electric compact car and a host of other models at the start of the next decade. VW claims 270 miles of range and all-wheel drive, making the I.D. Buzz a fairly practical people carrier.

This post first appeared on The Truth About Cars

The post VW’s ID Buzz Needs to Impress China Before it Becomes Real appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2lTngU6
via IFTTT

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Saying Goodbye to the CC V6

For all its size and its global reach, Volkswagen is still, in many ways, a deeply human company. There was, for instance, the Bugatti Veyron an ego project if ever there was one. Then the purchase of Ducati, a move most called folly. And then there was the Phaeton, the Volkswagen that most folks can’t afford. Not only were these moves all strange, I’m sure that they made VW’s accountants furious. None of them made good business sense, but they were all deeply interesting and they all are evidence of the heart that beats at the center of VW. Among these follies is the CC, a car that everyone agrees is rakishly handsome, but that no one really wanted to buy. The car couldn’t last, but the world is brighter for its having been in it. With the approach debut of the Arteon, it seems like a good time to look back on its sadly departing predecessor. The version I drove, because I live in Canada, is a V6 Wolfsburg Edition, which apparently isn’t available in the States. Nor is the V6, not as...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan

Filed under: Government/Legal , Green , Mitsubishi , Fuel Efficiency , Japan Mitsubishi says its shady fuel-economy test practices may have been used on all vehicles it sells and has sold in Japan. Continue reading Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 11 May 2016 12:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments from Autoblog Volkswagen http://ift.tt/21X3bHv
Post a Comment
Read more

More 3.0-Liter TDI Settlement Details Expected by January 31

Volkswagen and the TDI Plaintiff’s Steering Committee were in court today for another status conference following the agreement in principal reached earlier this week. Little new information was given at the conference held before Judge Charles Breyer today, but the court ordered the parties to develop a formal settlement agreement, class action notices, and a class notice plan by January 31, 2017. For now, though, owners still don’t know how much to expect in compensation. Elizabeth Cabraser, lead Counsel for the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee reaffirmed in a statement today that the compensation would be “substantial.” The potential cost to Volkswagen is widely reported to exceed $1 billion, though, with an additional $225 million going into an environmental trust to help offset excess emissions. Buy back offers are still only expected for the oldest 20,000 of the roughly 80,000 VW Group vehicles sold in America with the 3.0-liter TDI engine. Those vehicles are mostly SUVs, like ...
Post a Comment
Read more