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.

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