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Volkswagen is Making a Bicycle. Seriously.

Yep. Volkswagen is doing the ol’ reverse-Peugeot and going from making cars to making bicycles as part of its green initiative. The Cargo e-Bike is making its debut at the LA Auto Show this week and VW is 100% serious.

The e-Bike, as the name suggests, will be powered by both pedals and electricity and market introduction is expected as early as next year.

Why? We were wondering the same thing. Volkswagen says that the bike, which is being shown alongside the I.D. Buzz CARGO—which is technically (technically) making its auto show debut in LA—and will be able to go places it (or other trucks) can’t go.

To be fair, it’s a pretty clever use of the electric bike idea, because rather than just hauling people who lost their license for (ahem) whatever reason, it will haul up to 463 lbs or 17.7 cu-ft of stuff. Better yet, the storage platform is stabilized, so it won’t fall over in the turns.

“It’s the perfect vehicle for that last mile, part of our vision of micro-mobility for the future,” VW writes in a statement. The e-Bike would presumably be useful in less affluent or very densely populated cities.

As mentioned above, the e-Bike (which is the smallest commercial vehicle VW has ever made) will be joined at the LA auto show by the I.D. Buzz Cargo, which was previously shown at IAA Commercial Vehicles in Hannover in September—which I guess isn’t technically an auto show?

Regardless, this time, the Buzz CARGO concept has been reimagined as a support vehicle for the I.D. R. Which is fun, I guess.

As before, it can get anywhere from 200 to 340 miles of range (depending on how much you want) and can be RWD or AWD. With 201 hp, a solar roof, an I.D. Pilot autonomous mode, and a plug to charge your power tool batteries, VW says it could be ready for in 2022.

The brand specifically mentions that it could be ready for sale in Europe, though, so much like you don’t see many VW Amaroks here, I wouldn’t expect to see too many I.D. Buzz Cargos on sale in America, either.

Fans of the Beetle can also lay a wreath at its side, as VW shows off the Beetle Final Edition at its stand.

The post Volkswagen is Making a Bicycle. Seriously. appeared first on VWVortex.



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