Volkswagen is creating a buzz around the production version of the I.D.Buzz concept, which is called ID.Buzz (minus the concept part, get it?). After showing camouflaged prototypes for months, the Wolfsburg-based company has released the first official images of what the van looks like on the inside.
In its standard configuration, the Buzz will offer room for up to five passengers and about 40 cubic feet of cargo space. Buyers will have seven single-tone and four two-tone color options to choose from. We’re told that some draw inspiration from the upholstery choices that were available on the split-window Bus that entered production on March 8, 1950. And, the two-tone options will match the paint; vans ordered in, say, orange and white will be available with orange and white upholstery. It’s not full-on retro, but it’s a nod to heritage.
Volkswagen chose not to make the ID.Buzz available with leather. It replaced the material with other fabrics, including a type of cloth made from recycled products that’s fitted to the seat covers, the floor coverings, and the headliner. The steering wheel’s rim is polyurethane.
Several Easter eggs are scattered throughout the Buzz, including outlines of its silhouette etched into some of the interior plastics (like on the trim at the base of the second-row seats). Designers also integrated an ice scraper and a bottle opener into the cabin. On a secondary level, Volkswagen’s photos also suggest that the Buzz will be as spacious as you’d assume considering its box-like proportions. It looks like five passengers can travel aboard in relative comfort. The list of tech features that the van will be available with hasn’t been released yet, but leaked images published in January 2022 show a small, digital instrument cluster and an infotainment screen not unlike the ID.4‘s.
Autoblog recently traveled to England to spend time behind the wheel of a pre-production prototype. Built on the modular MEB platform, the ID.Buzz rides on an 82-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack that zaps a rear-mounted electric motor rated at 201 horsepower. It stretches 185.5 inches long, 80 inches wide, and 76.3 inches tall, and its driving range checks in at around 250 miles on the European testing cycle.
Volkswagen will unveil the ID.Buzz and the ID.Buzz Cargo online on March 9. Keep in mind that neither model will be sold in America; we’ll get a long-wheelbase variant of the people-carrying Buzz that will make its debut in the coming months. Deliveries should begin in 2024.
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Source: www.autoblog.com