My immediate thought whenever I need to write about either Volkswagen or the ID.Buzz electric van, is to point out that I’m a fan of both. Mostly, this is because writing about either positively has been kind of hard lately. Whatever happens, I don’t want it to seem like I’m kicking a brand when it’s down.
There are many issues, but some of those are not exactly VW’s fault (you can’t exactly blame the company for tariffs or the tax credit expiration). It’s also not the only company to have given in to EV hype, and the picture in North America is a lot different from the picture in Europe, where VW and its other brands (like Škoda and Cupra) are still finding ways to sell electric cars.
Here, we think mostly about the ID.4 and ID.Buzz. These were not successful products. I appreciate the company’s try-everything approach, but when you try everything, you sometimes risk letting the failures overwhelm you. Is Volkswagen headed that way with its autonomous ID.Buzz? That’s the risk.
Established automakers in China face their own dilemmas when it comes to adding a suite of advanced capabilities–which Chinese consumers demand–so Huawei is there to help. Let’s talk about HIMA, which is not a K-Pop band your kids love.
Both Rivian and Tesla had a good Q3, but how long will that last? While I’m talking about electric cars on TMD, lemme get into a fun one: GM sold more EV trucks after introducing a lower-tier model!
Is The VW ID.BUZZ AD Going To Work?
I quote Manager Magazin a lot around here because they are quite well-sourced around Wolfsburg and get some deeply amusing quotes. As a business magazine, they are great at the “What if it doesn’t work?” form of journalism. It’s a valuable exercise to question the success of an important enterprise. It’s also important to realize that at an early phase in any enterprise, there are going to be moments that will look like absolute failures.
If you viewed Tesla at the moment when Elon Musk was struggling to deliver a hundred Roadsters and extrapolated from there, you’d assume the company was a failure, and not the biggest EV automaker in history.
Volkswagen has had a hard time making autonomous products work, and has partnered with various companies. Remember Argo? It didn’t work. Instead, Volkswagen shifted to a deal with a Chinese company and with Intel-owned, Israel-based Mobileye. Let’s check in on that project, via Manager Magazin (translated):
Oliver Blume, casually dressed in a black T-shirt, jacket, and white sneakers, presents Volkswagen’s first autonomous production vehicle. This isn’t about what will happen in the 2030s, he emphasizes, but rather “about the present, the 2020s.”
Blume’s message is clear: With the ID.Buzz AD, Volkswagen is ushering in the autonomous future and positioning itself “at the forefront of a multi-billion dollar global growth market.” The VW subsidiary Moia offers a “turnkey solution”: autonomous mobility systems that they can easily put into operation. Hamburg’s Hochbahn and the Berlin public transport company have already taken the bait.
However, there’s a problem: Customers will have to wait. The production-ready vehicle is already here, but the most important piece is missing: the software that will enable the van to drive autonomously.
While there are test vehicles, it sounds from the article like there’s been a bit of a struggle with getting a full roadworthy version from Mobileye. Oh, right, Moia. Volkswagen is like Star Wars after being purchased by Disney; an endless number of spinoffs you can barely remember. Moia is the autonomous driving one (or one of the autonomous driving ones).
One of the benefits of the Mobileye-VW relationship is that, unlike Waymo, VW won’t be retrofitting existing vehicles but building technology into the vehicle. This should make the vehicles better and cheaper. However, the article implies that the tech isn’t quite up to par yet, with Rivian (another VW spinoff, sort of) dumping Mobileye in order to use its own system based on Nvidia chips.
The fact that the vehicle being used is an ID.Buzz is sort of sad, given what the ID.Buzz represents now: A great idea too delayed, too expensive, and too imperfect. There’s a risk that this could turn into yet another VW failure. Ok, one quick quote from former Waymo/Hyundai boss John Krafcik, who is always amusing:
“Volkswagen is arguably the automaker with the most failed autonomous partnerships, and Mobileye is probably the supplier with the most failed autonomous driving timelines,” summarizes John Krafcik (64), longtime head of the Google -founded robotaxi company Waymo. An alliance between the two is “a somewhat unfortunate constellation.” Any chance of success? “Unlikely.”
Never change, John.
Enter The Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA)
A lot of people in the United States only think of Huawei as the Chinese company that’s constantly getting into trouble with Western governments. In China, it’s a large part of the tech/cell/consumer ecosystem.
China has a bunch of legacy automakers that have, for the last few years, taken a backseat to the BYDs, NIOs, and Teslas of the world. Those companies are suddenly fighting back, and one of the big tools is HIMA. Whereas Apple was successful in entering the automotive space via CarPlay, its actual car never materialized.
Huawei’s approach is multifaceted, but one of them is a CarPlay-like system that also adds a suite of advanced driver systems. Here’s S&P Global Mobility explaining how that works:
HIMA is growing, with more partners and models. In late September, SAIC became the fifth automaker to join HIMA Huawei, following BAIC, Chery, JAC and Seres. Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, introduced the Shangjie H5 and the 2026 AITO M7 models at HIMA’s Autumn New Product Launch Event on September 23.
Like other HIMA models, the H5 features Huawei’s Qiankun ADS 4 intelligent driving system and HarmonyOS smart cabin system, the two most appealing Huawei tech features to new car buyers. The H5 will also be showcased along with HIMA’s earlier launches at selected Huawei stores across mainland China.
HIMA is Huawei’s key platform to scale its smart EV business and connect directly with car buyers. The alliance now offers 10 electric models across five brands: AITO, Luxeed, Maextro, Shangjie and Stelato. Huawei and a mainland Chinese OEM partner to introduce each new brand: for example, AITO with Seres Group, Luxeed with Chery and Maextro with JAC.
Although Huawei doesn’t own these brands, consumers view HIMA Huawei models as “Huawei cars,” since the tech giant is perceived as the driving force behind their development.
This is what Apple should have tried.
Tesla And Rivian’s Good Quarters Lead To…
Tesla had a great third quarter as it pushed out a ton of vehicles ahead of the expiration of the tax credit. So did Rivian. What about the rest of the year?
It’s going to be tough, per Automotive News:
Rivian Automotive reported a 32 percent surge in third-quarter deliveries compared with a year earlier to 13,201 vehicles as U.S. buyers took advantage of the expiring federal EV tax credit.
But the Irvine, Calif., automaker cut the high end of its 2025 delivery outlook. Rivian adjusted the full-year forecast to between 41,500 and 43,500 vehicles from 40,000 to 46,000 previously.
Rivian shares were falling about 7 percent after its Oct. 2 sales report.
And here’s Bloomberg on Tesla:
Tesla Inc. shares fell after the automaker posted a record quarter of vehicle sales that will be difficult to replicate now that federal electric-car subsidies have expired.
The company delivered 497,099 vehicles worldwide in the most recent quarter, 7.4% more than a year ago. Although the total far exceeds the roughly 439,600 average analyst estimate compiled by Bloomberg, Tesla’s shares slumped Thursday following a record monthly gain in market capitalization.
The divergence illustrates how investor sentiment has become increasingly detached from Tesla’s core electric vehicle business, focused instead on the potential profit to be reaped by its still-developing robotaxi, artificial intelligence and robotics ventures, which Musk has said will drive company’s future market value.
Maybe Elon Musk’s pivot away from EVs was perfectly timed… or maybe he’s just spinning even more plates.
Hey, A Cheap Sierra EV Sells
I sometimes see a GMC Sierra EV, and I think it looks fantastic. I’m not sure about the effectiveness of shoving an unholy number of battery cells into a truck when, like, EREVs exist, but it’s still an extremely cool truck, and I do want to try it.
It hasn’t been a big seller, though it has had a lift recently. Other than expiring tax credits, how has GMC found more customers? Automotive News has a theory:
At Chevy, sales of the Equinox EV compact crossover were up 157 percent, while the Silverado EV full-size pickup nearly doubled. Sales of the Sierra EV rose to 3,374 from just 387 a year earlier on increased production of lower-priced configurations.
That’s the GMC Sierra Elevation, which gets about 283 miles of range, a lot of the features you’d want on a GMC truck, and still has that killer aesthetic. At about $65k, I think that’s something I’d rather have than a Cybertruck.
It’s almost like the EVs are too expensive.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
I made a joke about CHVRCHES a few TMDs ago, and I’d just like to clarify that I am a CHVRCHES fan. Please enjoy “Recover.”
The Big Question
What is the best thing that VW does right now?
Top Photo: VW
“EREVs exist” Where are they? Nothing other than the Ram Ramcharger (Not here) the Scout twins (Not here). I’m still waiting for something to throw my money at.
Every time I see a Sierra EV (and I guess a Silverado EV) I can’t believe how huge the thing is.
Same reaction the first couple I saw. The GMC front end looks way better than the Chevy to me.
What does VW do well? I’ve spent the last couple of days crossing back and forwards across Germany in a rental Tiguan at unholy speeds on the autobahn and it took it like a champ.
I can say I don’t fully understand the point of having what is intended to be a fully autonomous vehicle to look like a non-autonomous vehicle. If you truly trust the software (and why are you doing this if you don’t) then the form factor for such a vehicle is free from the constraints of what we’ve been familiar with previously. Why would an autonomous vehicle need a prominent front windscreen with “front” and “rear” seats?
It makes me think only Zoox really understands this, and GM before them with their cancelled Cruise Origin.
It’s probably the same thinking that “flying cars” should look like cars, or the early cars should look like something a horse would pull.
I think that the idea was that streets were for pedestrians, horses, and carriages, so if you could build an automobile that sort of looked like a carriage without the horse society would let you get away with it.
The whole flying car thing is actually a narrative trope to demonstrate that the story takes place in the world, very different from ours, usually in a bad way. Aside from being a metaphor for a dystopian future and a demonstrably terrible idea flying cars look like cars because the car shape is familiar.
Autonomous vehicles are disguised as cars so that they can use the infrastructure designed for cars, well, actually designed for pedestrians and horses and bicycles, but that’s beating a dead horse if you will pardon the metaphor.
Something that was obviously not a car with a driver would be safer because people would not expect it to behave like a car with a driver.
Of course the regulations for automobiles assume there is a driver, and if an autonomous vehicle maker wants to hijack the automobile infrastructure, they need to follow those regulations, which dictate the form factor.
I think it was more that early automobiles were built largely by carriage makers or people who drew from the existing technology of carriages with the idea of motorizing them than trying to emulate carriages for social reasons—”horseless carriages”, as the saying went. Even the names followed carriage names. It was what they had around them that they (and their customers) were familiar with and for which the tools, skills, and tech already existed.
Well the size and name of them dates to Rome. A one horse version was a carus, a carrus with two horses was a biga, three horses, a triga, and four horses a quadriga.
The earliest automobiles were gigantic road locomotives, that so alarmed the English they made a man with a flag walk in front of it. I believe Nic Periton owns one.
If somebody tried to sell something like a Ford F250 in 1900 it probably would have been banned outright for travel on roads and streets.
MobilEye is the most pain the ass company to work with, straight up. But, they also have amazing tech in their cameras that I still believe is hard to beat. They have decades of data at this point to train their systems on and have optimized that far beyond any other company in the space. For a product that plans to do advanced Automated driving like Level 3 in a normal looking car, its going to be hard to go without them (not impossible, but hard). Most of the Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous stuff you hear about are basically giant science experiments, they run huge computers (as in, fill the complete trunk of cars) with Lidars, radars and Cameras tacked all over the place. To make this work well with normal car packaging is probably the biggest hurdle. Tesla has a rather large computer running and the (terribly named) FSD still doesnt count as more than Level 2 (its NOT a Level 3 system). Going with MobilEye is probably the smartest thing VW can do for the time being to try and catch up. Now that said, MobilEye’s reputation proceeds them. I know many OEMS that get so fed up with ME’s attitude that they end up going it alone after a few years.
I see a Sierra EV pretty regularly at one of my usual stops. It’s pretty cool looking, but best to divert your eyes when you get to the front.
I think the Silverado front is even worse.
My neighbor just picked up a GMC Sierra EV as a company vehicle for his home renovation business (and parks the thing in front of my house most nights). It is nice, and much better looking and feeling than the Silverado EV and Cybertruck, but it still doesn’t feel up to the price tag it commands. With that said, at least progress is being made towards improving the value proposition for EV trucks, so good on GM there.
VW seems to be determined to snatch defeat out of the jaws of success. The ID.Buzz is an eye catching and fun vehicle. I see them out and about in Portland, and I’ve even seen some gussied up as hotel livery for nice hotels in ski towns.
It is however, at its heart, a minivan. VW needs to embrace this fact and get the based model pricing aimed squarely between the Sienna ($39k) and Odyssey ($45k) and add some features that will delight parents.
There are some wealthy boomers who will buy them to feel young, but what VW needs is the cohort of image conscious parents who will buy based on safety, practicality and price.
When I bought our Pacifica, the dealer said that overwhelmingly minivans are bought by 2 demographics. Young families who need the space for kids (me) and empty nesters who like the space when they’re alone and the flexibility to have all their grandkids in the car when they visit. If you look at the Pacifica, there are tons of the highest trim levels for sale in Florida, where the lower trims are more evenly scattered around the nation.
So totally agree with you. We WANTED an EV minivan but there really isn’t anything on the market other than a few hybrid options that were hard to get or downright unreliable (Pacifica PHEV). If the ID Buzz started in the low 40’s we totally would have considered it.
While I’ll agree that the GMC looks better than the Cyberturd. If those were the only two choices and I had to purchase an electric pickup I’d definitely go with the GMC. However in both cases the CT sets the bar on the ground. The Chevy version is better looking and I might even say the Rivian is better looking too. Either way for now the Lightning is the winner in the looks department and the one would I bring home, if I wanted an EV Pickup.
I actually saw a second Buzz the other day. So I can confirm there’s a lime-green one running around Milwaukee and a black one was at least passing through Lake Geneva. I think they’re good looking but I wish they were a PHEV
What is the best thing that VW does right now?
I’d say the ID3. Its well built, handles much better than the Chinese competition and is actually competitive in the Chinese market with decent range and charging at a great price (17K USD). Remove the weird window front/rear toggle switch and all the capacitive buttons and they’ll have a great bulwark against the Chinese EV onslaught.
And speaking of Huawei & HIMA…..
Somehow I see Huawei as the modern reincarnation of Genghis Khan; join me or be killed. Huawei doesn’t need to bother themselves with the messy business of building actual cars, they just need to license their tech and branding to the lowly automakers who do their bidding. The price war is bringing death to their satrapies with a thousand cuts, and Huawei can just sit back and see the cash roll in.
In 2024 it seemed that all the joint ventures in China were heading to the chopping block; if you weren’t aligned with BYD or Huawei you wouldn’t live to see another day. But this year it seems they found a way out, with GM electrifying their best-selling Buicks (PHEV minivans and sedans with 200+ mi electric range), and Mazda (of all companies) going all in with their JV partner Changan, using their platforms to push out some pretty appealing range-extender EVs, buying some time before their in-house platforms go online in 2027. Hybrid tech is going at lightspeed here (some brand just launched a PHEV with almost 400mi of e-range), and I’m really relieved that Western and Japanese brands aren’t giving up yet, can’t wait to see what comes out next.
Huawei Horde. Coming to your market summer 2026. Whether you like it or not.
There’s no Honor in that Nexus.
There’s an id buzz on my local vw lot. It was listed at 65k six months ago. Right now on the dealers website it has a 15k dealer discount. Turns out, people don’t even want them for 50k.
VW was out of their goddamn mind charging $70,000 for the ID Buzz. I get that corporate brainrot is real/line go UP/etc., not to mention the average American customer is a massive fucking idiot who shops by monthly payment. But there’s a limit to how far you can take it, and VW was giggling and making fart noises after they put a solid mile between the limit and where they priced these damn things.
I maintain my comments from the initial launch article disclosing the pricing: the upper limit they can realistically charge and sell to the mass market (all those “volk” they supposedly build cars for) is around $40k USD for what is really a short-range urban runabout and mini road trip machine.
I agree, but really I’m not a player with the compromises it has above 30K With a hybrid Pacifica stickering at 46K, it has to be a significantly better bargain for me to consider it.
Oh yeah, I definitely wouldn’t be in at 40k, but some people might be, it’s got way more instagram appeal than a pacifica for one.
There are still 2025 1st Editions sitting on lots around me. Nope. Not for $71k. Not when a good number of other EV’s whip it at every metric for many thousands less. At least it’s slow and charges slowly, so there’s more time for folding down the seats and taking a nap after enjoying the scenery.
If they had made them in Chattanooga instead of Germany, it probably could have been cheaper and sold better.
I was looking forward to the ID Buzz. I could even accept the MSRP for what it was.
I just could not stomach the non-competitive range of 231 miles (AWD.) It’s such a perfect road trip and camping vehicle. The range may be do-able but not at the price they want.
Man, I could just never get into CHVRCHES for some reason. They were so, so, so, so hyped up like 10 years ago but whenever I listened they just kind of came off as Diet Purity Ring to me. But then again I’m just not really into modern EDM/indietronic/hyperpop/stuff that fits under that umbrella in general so I do acknowledge that it’s not really music that’s intended for me, as I tend to prefer that my synth noises be of the 1980s variety.
I’ll fucking blast Gary Numan, New Order, Depeche Mode et al until the cows come home, though. Oh and the best thing VW does right now is the Golf R. I really have absolutely no interest in anything else they make. I do think the new Tiguan looks nice and kind of gets back to what late 20-teens VW did so well, which is basically giving you a luxury car without the badge tax. But no hybrid? In 2025? VW pls.
Also holy shit are the US manufacturers fucked or what? The culture warriors got what they wanted and we’re throwing the last decade plus of climate advancements out the window so Kyle can have his $1,300 a month RAM that makes V8 noises/the fascists can own the libs, but dear god. While we’re worried about V8 BADGES OF PROTEST the rest of the world is moving rapidly towards EVs and we’re already a decade behind China on that front.
This is an own goal that’s going to be taught in business and economics classes for the next 50 years plus. Great job, everyone! Our automotive manufacturing is cooked globally, but at least we defeated the horrible EV boogeyman! Hell yeah, brother! I can’t wait to roll coal on the fury road when it’s 125 degrees in April!
Well, with Trump’s intention to revive the coal industry, you may be doing that literally.
We’re past the “intention” point
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/30/climate/coal-power-trump-public-lands
Don’t be silly. Business and economics classes won’t be permitted to teach about such subversive things.
That’s true, it’ll be all about how God Emperor Trump saved the poor white people from the violent oppression of *checks notes* clean air
Smog has what plants crave. It’s got particulates!
Also look at what China is doing to heavily invest in their infrastructure. Canals, ship elevators, dams, solar, etc… EVERYTHING! Meanwhile, the US is just sitting on their hands doing basically nothing. In 20 years, China will easily be #1 on the planet, and the downside is that it’s run by an Authoritarian. Really, the rest of what’s going on there is becoming amazing to watch and impressive to experience.
Have you listened to any of their more recent stuff? I wasn’t a big fan of their earlier albums, but I do like the last couple.
I was also going to make a joke about there not being business and economics classes anymore, but I see someone else beat me to it. 🙂
I’ve heard some of the singles in passing and they were catalogued in my cranium as “perfectly fine”. If any of the albums are worth my time I’ll happily add them to my list but I’m so far behind on albums right now it’s nuts 🙁
Coolest thing from VW? I was with a friend picking up some parts at their parts counter and saw a VW branded USB cable that was usb-c with an attached adapter “cap” that also let it be a lightning plug on one side and a micro usb on the other.
In typical VW fashion it quit working after 5 days 🙂
should have bought the currywurst instead
Kind of fitting they’re using a Buzz for the autonomous thing given that it is also, like their autonomous efforts, half-assed and arriving much later than it should’ve.
I’m sorry. Is the message about the new Buzz AD that it’s amazing and great and the vehicle is there but the autonomous functionality does not exist?? No shit.
In related news, my husband’s 30-year-old F350 is also an autonomous vehicle that doesn’t have autonomous functionality … (YET?).
What absolute PR horseshit. Please someone tell me I am misunderstanding the messaging.
That’s about the gist of it.
A self-driving OBS would admittedly be pretty cool.
They’re probably only using Buzzes because they’ve got a million of them sitting around and they have the interior space to stuff all the tech in.
The best thing VW does is not mess with Porsche too much and let them do their own thing.
I don’t have anything complementary to say about the brand itself.
By that notion, Porsche does not mess with VW enough.
Matt, are we looking at the same truck? I see the unholy face of the Sierra EV in the article, and unfortunately, cannot stop gagging.
Please confirm.
The best thing that VW does right now is continue to offer the Jetta, which in it’s current form seems to be a reasonably priced and relatively handsome sedan. I actually sort of like it. I appreciate that the GTI still exists and can be had without forking over 40k.
Other than that… nothing.
What is the best thing that VW does right now?
I have high hopes for the Scout. Besides that, they seem to be pretty good at shooting themselves in the foot with the whole automation piece.
And the Golf GTI/R models are still very good.
These usually hit closer to lunchtime. I was quite disappointed to look at my clock and see lunch is still far off. Apparently time is not flying on a Friday morning at work.
Nice pick on the CHVCRHES song Matt!
Yesterday, for the very first time, I saw an ID .Buzz (white over green) in the wild. This was on I-65 in Indiana. Until now I’d only seen a few on dealer lots.
I always see so many EVs on that stretch of highway. If I drive up to Indy, EVs everywhere. I even saw a Fisker Ocean. But go the other way, down through Kentucky to Bowling Green? Maybe the occasional Tesla.
Chase the latest automotive fads but implement them in a worse way than the competition.
The best thing VW does is SEAT and Skoda. They take existing platforms, amp up the style and utility and cut the price. Those vehicles may not be class leading but they’re generally solid choices. Too bad VWoA doesn’t get that memo.
The spicy ketchup. That’s genuinely good, and the homemade currywurst I’ve made with it has been an entirely positive experience.