Skip to main content

I.D. Buzz Cargo Still Has a Chance in America

Volkswagen showed off the I.D. Buzz Cargo at the LA Auto Show yesterday, and it turns out there’s still a chance it could make it in America.

Despite specifically indicating that the Buzz Cargo would be ready for Europe in a press release, VW CEO Scott Keogh said at VW’s press conference that the company is “taking a very close look at it [for the US market].”

Although he didn’t detail what it would take for the I.D. Buzz Cargo to start selling it in the US, Keogh’s speech provided a hint as to what the company thinks is the Cargo’s use case.

Focusing heavily on deliveries (rather than repairs, as in the European press release), Keogh outlined the advantages of an electric delivery van in a world where free two-day shipping means that delivery vehicles are becoming a bigger and bigger environmental threat.

What logistics companies call the “last mile” is the crucial final step in delivering products where efficiency takes a nose dive. Whereas you can stuff a bunch of products into a big ship or truck, getting parcels from the distribution center to your door in two days means delivering packages a few at a time, which is responsible for lots of traffic and lots carbon emissions.

So a, say, electric delivery vehicle sold en masse to make—oh, I dunno—a fleet for some kind of—what you call them?—online retailer like (for the sake of argument) Amazon might be a good, as they say, “get” for Volkswagen.

And I don’t just bring up Amazon because it’s the biggest. Audi is already working with the company to install chargers in e-tron Quattro owners’ homes.

But that’s all speculative, and VW is still just looking closely. The I.D. Buzz Cargo could be ready for European deliveries as soon as 2022. No American timeline is available.

The post I.D. Buzz Cargo Still Has a Chance in America appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex https://ift.tt/2TYz3Og
via IFTTT
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

Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway

Waterfest 24 will be held at Atco Dragway, in Atco, New Jersey. The summer event will take place at its new venue on July 21 and 22. Long held in Englishtown, New Jersey, the festival has been such a large part of the VW scene that the latest iteration of the Golf even comes with optional “Englishtown” wheels . The new venue, however, is an NHRA drag track a scant 52 miles southwest of Englishtown. The ¼ mile drag track opened in 1960, which makes it the oldest drag strip in New Jersey. The announcement came today on a social media post that announced the new location. Waterfest is North America’s largest VW/Audi show. As many 20,000 people show up for the annual show, making the second largest show in the world—with Worthersee being number one. 2018 will be Waterfest’s 24 th year in existence. The post Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway appeared first on VWVortex . from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2GQjkuc via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

European Passat GTE launches as Saloon and Variant

Volkswagen continues e-motoring offensive with plug-in hybrid Passat GTE delivers 218 PS and travels up to 50 kilometres on all-electric power First Volkswagen plug-in hybrid in the high-volume segment of large family cars The Volkswagen continues to electrify! Following the Golf GTE*, comes the next high-volume model with a plug-in drive system: this time the German carmaker is electrifying the new Passat GTE. Its launch marks the debut of a new generation of business and family cars – zero-emission vehicle and long-distance touring car all in one. A Volkswagen that combines the present and the future. A car that boasts not only one of the most progressive drive systems of our time, but also an array of innovative assistance and infotainment systems that is ground-breaking in the segment of large family cars. With superb system output of 160 kW / 218 PS, frugal NEDC consumption of just 1.6 l/100 km and 12.2 kWh/100 km (Variant: 12.4 kWh) and an all-electric range of up to 50 k...
Post a Comment
Read more