Volkswagen has announced that its reborn electric Microbus, the ID.Buzz, will not have a 2026 model year. This is being treated as more of a break than a final cessation of sales, but no matter what it is, it’s not great news. It’s not shocking given the sales of the ID.Buzz and how it fits into the market, but personally, I can’t help but be a bit shocked at just how badly VW whiffed the opportunity to bring back one of its most iconic vehicles.
Here’s the quote that a VW spokesperson gave to Carscoops, which is pretty much the same statement given to Automotive News and other outlets:
“Following a careful assessment of current EV market conditions, we have made the strategic decision not to move forward with MY26 ID. Buzz production for the U.S. market.”
Of course, because they’ve been selling so slowly, you can very likely still buy one in 2026; it’ll just be one left over from 2025. But that’s fine, they’re non-perishable items.
The ID.Buzz should have been a slam dunk for Volkswagen. After the Beetle, the Microbus is Volkswagen’s most iconic product, one absolutely crammed full of cultural significance and dripping with nostalgia. Hell, it was the life preserver VW reached for in the aftermath of the Dieselgate scandal, because they knew it was the one bit of intellectual property they had that was almost universally seen in a positive light. Well, at least by people not stuck behind one.
Remember this commercial from right after Dieselgate?
Powerful stuff, right? At the time, the ID.Buzz seemed like exactly what VW needed. Optimistic, iconoclastic, and, significantly, a zero-emissions vehicle. The Dieselgate emissions-cheating scandal really forced VW’s hand into making the ID.Buzz a battery-electric vehicle, and while I think BEVs certainly have a place in the automotive landscape, a re-born Microbus was really not the ideal application.
The ID.Buzz has a range of about 234 miles on a full charge, and while that’s not terrible for many applications, it’s a huge limiting factor for a modern Microbus. The whole point of a Microbus is that it should be a fantastic road trip vehicle. You go on adventures in a Microbus, often spontaneous ones, ones that don’t necessarily pass by EV charging stations every two and a half hours.
I know this because I tried taking a road trip in one, and it was frustrating. It was frustrating because it was a fantastic vehicle for a nice long road trip in almost every way – roomy, comfortable, quick, plenty of cargo room – except, realistically, you have to stop every 150 miles or so. And that’s not great.
But it’s not just EV range issues; it’s so much more. The ID.Buzz is just too damn expensive. They were starting around $60,000, and at this moment, the cheapest one we could find was $44,500, which is still too damn expensive.
The whole point of the original VW Type 2 was that it was an affordable, cheap-to-run, do-anything machine. It was a commercial cargo van, a family hauler, a mobile drug den, a camper, a food truck, a rolling den of vice or virtue or whatever the hell you wanted.
But that’s not what VW built. VW built an expensive nostalgia machine with needlessly limited abilities, something that was inherently limited from the get-go. Being a battery-electric vehicle, it could never be as cheap as it needed to be, and it would be at the mercy of the charging infrastructure, which, let’s be honest, still isn’t where it needs to be.
What’s really frustrating is that VW got a new Microbus right over 20 years ago. The very first new Microbus concept of 2001 was exactly the vehicle VW needed to make: a cooler minivan.
That’s really it! That’s all they had to do: build an affordable minivan with a bit of personality, a personality that had already been established for decades and decades by the original bus.
The bus started life as a box on wheels. And that’s all it ever wanted to be, which is why it worked. A box on wheels can be anything you want it to be; and, as a result, that wheeled box becomes everything you want.
If the ID.Buzz was actually true to the original mission of the Microbus, I think VW would be in a very different situation than they are in now. What if it was, say, a hybrid minivan that looked and felt cooler than, say, a Toyota Sienna or Honda Odyssey, and cost about the same? No gimmicks are needed, beyond the baseline gimmick of a modern minivan that looks and feels like the old Microbus.
It’s all such a shame. There have been few recent cars I’ve wanted to be a success or more excited about than this resurrected VW Type 2. And it seems like VW has completely dropped the ball on this one.
Maybe the Buzz will come back to America after 2026. Maybe it’ll come back in some improved fashion? The dream would be for it to come back de-contented, with an auxiliary combustion engine to act as an EREV, and somehow sell for something under $40,000. Of course, I did say that’s a dream.
Top graphic images: Volkswagen
I would add one problem to the mix, which is the front of the thing. A big friendly smile betrayed by beady, malicious eyes. The ID Buzz wears the face of insanity.
I agree 100%. When I first saw the ID, I asked, “Where are the round headlights?”.. The cat eye lights look good on some cars, but they’re awful on the ID.
You’d have to be insane to buy one so its probably some sort of subconscious dog whistle to crazy people hoping to attract them.
Oh! I can’t unsee that now
Appropriate
I’ll never understand why they didn’t try and put a slightly different skin on the T7 PHEV and certify it here. The California camper would have sold like crazy were it available in… California. It might not have hit the price everyone wants, but I bet it would compete with the sienna.
Too expensive, should have been a hybrid/PHEV (but with the seemingly very solid looming ban on ICE in Europe I see why it isn’t). Not really complicated why it landed with a thud. I have literally never seen one on the road, just parked in dealer forecourts. This could have been such a homerun.
Exactly! Plus, in my area at least, VW has a very poor reputation on reliability. The years of using cheap plastic in the engine bay are catching up to VW.
Considering what they did to my van to protect their IP on this? I hope they lost billions on it.
What did they do to your van? EDIT found it, and yeah, VW of A may crash and burn. https://www.thedrive.com/news/vw-had-us-customs-seize-and-destroy-a-cute-jdm-van-for-looking-like-the-classic-bus
Oh the irony, they hold copyright on something they squandered on this dumb EV…
That one still pisses me off from time to time.
Maybe have an article where all the staff collaborate to design the “New Bus” to be something that’ll actually work.
Bishop with the overall styling
Torch can get the lighting proper
David can be sure it’s an EREV with rear range extender motor.
Mercedes can supervise sizing so it doesn’t go more than 2 Smarts in length
Matt can run the numbers to be sure it stays affordable
etc….
It really is sad that the car maker who had the Type II, the Beetle, the Rabbit, the Golf, the Polo, decided their halo vehicle would be a $60k EV shaped like a brick with range to match. They’re sitting on gold with the the MEB platform and Bug styling, chocolate and peanut butter, make it cheap, heck even make it a 4-door, profit.
Shit range (especially for a road trip vehicle), shit tech (fuck any car without a volume knob) and a high price. Plus those worthless rear windows. Who the fuck though those were a good idea? No amount of nostalgia or styling can over come that.
Not just a volume know, a REAL analog one connected to the audio, not one of those that spin endlessly and inevitably fail so the volume jinks and jives like a demented drifter.
All the factory Toyota radios do this, like mine.
I guarantee I will never spend money on anything with that type of volume control.
Even buttons over that fake tech.
The range is definitely worse than it should be, and the windows are crap as you cant even open them without massive resonance (they should have made the very back ones crank out). But the volume control is actually very useable. Very easy to just slide your finger across without looking.
this is the volkswagen i want back:
1) https://youtu.be/cv157ZIInUk
2) https://youtu.be/fiFp2Opso3w
3) https://youtu.be/I1ZYTHeytEU
4) https://youtu.be/6vA5cppq9j0
5) https://youtu.be/D692JJPPUe4
love my mk8 GTI to death, but it’s not the best time to be a vw fanboy
Let’s tell it like it is:
VW hasn’t built a great car since the Mk 4 Golf/GTI.
And even that was too upscale for what a VW is supposed to be.
The MK7 cars were far better than the MK4 – I bought both new. Then they screwed the pooch with the MK8, IMHO. Zero interest in MK8s, but I was an idiot of epic proportions to sell my MK7, despite having sold it for what I bought it for.
You hit the nail on the head with the MK7. I had both iterations, GTI and Golf R. I really miss the GTI as it was loads cheaper to run and maintain-85K miles with only oil changes, tire rotations, 2x brake fluid flushes, 2x plugs (did in my driveway in a few minutes) along with coils as a precaution. Oh, it was also tuned almost its entire life with a Neuspeed power module and then an APR tune at 20k miles. Also, the clutch was original and still totally fine. There is literally nothing currently sold at the VW dealership that interests me.
As I was trading in an M235i, I test-drove the MK7 R. It did nothing for me at all. Just felt fat and dull even if it could push you in the back a bit harder. And in FL I need AWD like I need a couple of ex wives. The GTI Sport was perfect. Four years with not a single issue other than the dealer monkeys tightening the lug nut such that I had to bounce on a 4ft breaker bar to get them loose when I went to rotate the tires myself just before I sold it. I left it completely mechanically stock and had no desire to f with it at all.
The expensive part did it in; the antithesis of the Kombi.
Here’s the thing – Beetles and especially buses were actually quite expensive for small cars back in the day. They were never actually all that cheap new, quite mid-market. You could buy a much larger/faster/better-equipped domestic car (though far less well-built) for the money, and nearly all other non-luxury imports were rather cheaper. But they offered exceptional value and quality for the money, which this does not.
I was wondering about their original MSRP. Sounds like the coolness only came after hippies were able to pick them up used.
Maybe affordable on the west coast, but not in most of the country.
The camper versions have been sought after by some that travel.
I know someone with one of those that still has it.
I don’t know if they got it new?
I have a coworker who has the bay window Westie that his parents bought new. Mint original condition, only like 75K miles on it. very cool vehicle with such a great history. Westies especially were NOT cheap vehicles new. The rate they are appreciating it may be a nice part of his retirement portfolio, LOL.
I met a couple with the later model van stretched by combining two in the middle.
I think it had two side doors.
They were camping in it.
It was very nicely done and had the original drivetrain.
I once stripped out the interior of an early camper model with the windows in the roof.
Very ingenious and efficient construction.
I tried to find a VW fan that wanted the kit, but oddly no interest.
You get it.
I have ridden in countless vans, but I’ve ridden in more E types than early VW vans.
Having ridden in a more VW vans than e-Types, you got the better deal. Nothing to get excited about unless you are into slow and loud things.
That’s why Kennedy engineering made adapters for everything from SHO engines to Chevy V8s for VWs
But at that point, I would rather have the van that had the V8 in it to start with. Don’t get me wrong, I like VW vans and think they are really cool – but I am under no illusions as to what they are are and aren’t. I don’t see much need to go faster in one for sure, they are utter deathtraps with the original engine in them. Going faster when you hit something rarely improves matters, so slow and easy for the win.
I expect it’s mostly about survival if you’re hauling stuff and going distances, especially in mountains.
Most engine conversions are more something vw should have put in, in the first place. Japanese engines with more power and durability, esp Subaru.
The only giveaway is usually the extra cooling.
I saw a VW van in Denver drive into a shop sounding like a cartoon car dying.
The owners ended up abandoning it there.
Hills just beat up underpowered stuff.
Very few people in the US live in mountains. The majority of this country is rather flat. If you live in the mountains, drive something else.
I lived in the delta, but couldn’t go anywhere without driving through mountains and elevation.
I’m 100 miles east now, in significantly uneven geography for an underpowered vehicle.
When I drive east, hills escalate rapidly to mountains.
And there are mountains between me and the west coast.
I drove a kei van to Denver that same trip.
It was completely maxed out at altitude on the freeway. So was my ranger 4 cylinder with it loaded for travel, but the ranger could maintain normal speeds.
Like I said – use the right tool for the job. If you have to go over mountains, there are infinitely better things to be driving than a VW bus. At this point, they are cool vintage collector toys, not transportation.
Jason I think you are wearing rose colored glasses. No way you are building an EV or Hybrid when these came out with a price tag where it was needed. Sure it could be less than $60k but no less than 45k and tech wasn’t available for more range when they started and not cheaper. The original VW was a Yugo back when there wasn’t a better option. You can’t build a historical vehicle you need to build a great vehicle for the time and maybe it becomes iconic. Look at all the less than great vehicles we have seen where we state they sold millions of them, and we diss them like the PT CRUISER, but in a few decades 1 or more will be the holy Grail. I mean VW sold more PT CRUISERs originally than they sold VW Buses. But back then they didn’t have so much competition.
It certainly has the problems mentioned and should have been a hybrid, but I think it fundamentally trades on nostalgia for a generation that is now too old for them and, more than mere nostalgia, it’s symbolic of a generation that has largely made themselves reviled by their would-be successors (if they would actually step down and hadn’t pulled up so many ladders behind them). As late Gen-X who is close enough to theoretically have a slight pinkish hue to my glasses for that time (theoretically, as the boomers I’ve known consisted of far too many cluster Bs, not to be confused with Africanized honey bees or the Wu-Tang killer bees), when I see the old buses, all I think of is a slow POS used by fake-love druggies to spread VD throughout the land and prop up drug empires (that have diversified into all kinds of other horrors) before they became the money-grubbing yuppies of the ’80s, so a new product that trades on that image lacks appeal before any pricing or technical issues even matter. I can’t imagine what even younger people might think of them, but if they could afford them and were having enough kids to need such a vehicle, I wouldn’t expect them to have much interest. Believe it or not, I edited this to be far nicer because #not all Boomers.
Thanks for the edit, because it sure isn’t 70 year old me or any other Boomer I know. Of course, I may know a lot of people, but I do avoid those you targeted.
If that isn’t satire, it’s impressively out of touch with history and reality.
Good comedy though.
I am sad. I will wait for the cool Kia I saw at the Chicago show last year. VW just sucks right now. They may as well be Nissan
Nein. Es ist tot.
Jawohl!
Maybe they can bring it back with round headlights next time. They’re going to have to build them in America as an EREV if they want any chance at success
I honestly do think they goofed a bit on taking more inspiration from the 1968-2013 Bay Window model over the 1950-1975 original, which is the more iconic one – circular headlights and some sort of V-shaped trim on the nose to separate the two tone paint sections shouldn’t have been that difficult, they could have made the V a light bar if they absolutely couldn’t stop themselves. But, my understanding, is that the second generation Type 2 is actually the more celebrated one in Germany.
It seems obvious now that the root of VW’s problem is that too many people have no ID.
I love this catty comment!
If they’d made this a hybrid (plug in or standard) for around 40-50k it would likely be our family’s next purchase now that the current van is getting long in the tooth.
Our van is the road trip vehicle for vacations, soccer tournaments, etc. A pure electric makes zero sense in that role.
The problem is, it’s not a very good van. The interior layout and cargo space isn’t great. I liked the EV part but hated everything else.
I still might buy a heavily discounted used one some day for the hell of it.
I really wanted this to succeed when i first saw the concept. The colors and styling absolutely nailed it in my opinion.
The lack of choice in size and powertrains killed it though for any chance in the us.
Given that nobody really makes a small van anymore i think a choice of gas or hybrid with panel options and the different lengths couldve been a hit. Oh well.
Government regulations keep anyone making an affordable VW BUS RETRO version
I mean when is the last time VW has done something that made you go “hell yeah, they nailed it” without any reservations? Even when they get shit right they still manage to fuck up the details. The current hot Golfs are good cars, but they’re saddled with that fucking infotainment abortion and now there’s no manual for some reason. The new Tiguan looks nice and finally has the teens/early 2020s VW sauce of being stylish but not overstated and very nice on the inside.
But it too has a shitty infotainment and its gas mileage sucks/there’s somehow no hybrid in 2025. The Atlas had the VR6, now it just has another EA888 variant that returns about the same gas mileage as a Pilot. They just cannot put a good, cohesive car together. And although I know 3-4 performance Golf owners will be here any second to mention they have 150,000 carefree miles on the GTI or whatever that just isn’t the experience for most buyers and the numbers back it up.
I was excited about the ID.Buzz and I get a little shot of serotonin when I see them in the wild. They look great! Like 10/10 retro futuristic design, no notes. But their range would’ve been underwhelming 4-5 years ago and is DOA today. They’re also saddled with an absolute nightmare of an interior and the horrific haptic shit/horrendous infotainment that VW just can’t seem to quit.
The company just cannot put a cohesive product together even when the throw is right over home plate. They ALWAYS find a way to fuck it up in the end. I also think they have the very German approach of “ve know best so you vill get ze car in ze way that VE vould vant it” and it drives a lot of customers away. I mean…how can a company with such a diehard following and a seemingly endless supply of nostalgia cache continue to fuck up this badly?
Honestly 2020s VW is going to be studied in business classes for decades, and not for the right reasons….
Maybe 20 to 25 years ago. That generation of vehicles weren’t flawless, but they were handsome, seemed very well built, and folks had some level of admiration for them.
Yeah, the GTI wasn’t super exciting, but they all seemed quite nice. The TDIs got great fuel economy. They had some novel power plants like the VR6 and W8, despite flaws.
Then you had the New Beetle which had broad appeal.
None of them were perfect, but the model range absolutely was selling in numbers.
Excellent point they were the largest volume auto seller but thought they could get into the Mercedes and BMW profit per unit stage while still selling the volume. This is why trying to build one vehicle for everyone doesn’t work.
The range is crazy. I get that my polestar 2 is a little older now (2022) and is smaller/lighter and a smaller battery but real world when it is not in winter I am lucky to get 190 miles at 90% charge (rated 100% range is supposed to be ~250 miles) so I would hate to see what real world these ID Buzz’s get. Plus on top of being 60k the Buzz isnt even AWD which is just ridiculous for the price and the range these get. Would have loved one of these but for the price, range and only being RWD these were DOA for me especially for icy/snowy NWI.
Yup, was ready to buy a buzz once my polestar 2 lease was up. If the range was around 300 or even slightly less i would have been ok, even with the price. Ended up with a Polestar 3.
Real world, mine is about the same as your Polestar. It’s a bit worse than the Bolt I had the last few years. It does charge way faster though.
My ’17 MK7 GTI Sport was near perfection. The only way it would have been better is if we had gotten the long-roof version. At the $30K MSRP it would have been good value, with the $6K+ “dieselgate discount’ it was a steal.
VW generally hasn’t had much of a clue about the US market since the glory days of the Beetle and the German-built Rabbits/Jettas. Though later Jettas and Passats (even the US-only one) were entirely adequate, if not particularly inspiring cars for the most part.
MK 7 GTI would be my answer even though I don’t have familiarity with it other than what I’ve read. I’ve been intrigued at getting one as a second car, but VW frightens me with its reliability record.
What’s funny is, the same people who can recognize this, expect the Scout vehicles to not totally suck. Guess who runs Scout folks!
edit: My dieselgate passat was one of the most comfortable enjoyable cars I’ve ever owned. Routinely drove it for 12 hours stretches to visit my hometown. Never got a backache, always cruised, and if things were good on the road, I could do it in 1 tank of fuel. Too bad they ruined that too.
They really should’ve built that 2001 concept, in 2001. It almost feels like VW was deliberately trying to make sure the very last of the Boomers and even the first half of Gen X were well past their prime kid-hauling years before bringing this out because, for reasons corporate or German, they were embarrased by the idea of retro even when the New Beetle was the “It” Car.
As someone who loved air-cooled VW’s, and currently works PT at VW dealer, this has always bothered me. We have 16 of these still sitting on the lot, with many of them being 1st editions. I think it failed for a few reasons here. 1st, they should have used the new beetle headlights instead of the ones there. Still modern but evokes the old. 2nd, should have sold the smaller wheel base here in the states, and 3rd, it should have been a Plug-in hybrid.
The limited range is the exact reason so few sold. Also, these vehicles weren’t being bought by the typical 3 kids and a dog family. They were being bought by a certain demographic who were trying to capture a memory. If it was by a family, it was one who had more disposable income than others. The PHEV is because these aren’t being kept outdoors overnight. They are parked indoors. Let people charge them themselves. Matched with the 1.6 or 1.8 beetle engine, turbo or not, and you could capture what this vehicle was trying to convey.
I actually think VW nailed a lot of the brief for this thing, and you aren’t giving them enough credit.
The styling is excellent and the historical easter eggs/features are wonderful. They actually did build the “cooler minivan” you say they should have built.
But you’re right on the fatal flaws. The range needs to be doubled. The price is aspirational. And this generation of VW’s software/interface is rage inducing.
No you are wrong but thanks for playing
And it’s too big, but what isn’t?
I actually saw the 2001 prototype in Berlin, roped off and across from an equally roped off prototype Bugatti Veyron.
The windows were tinted on the Veyron, so maybe it had an interior, but maybe not.
The Bus absolutely did not have an interior, just basically a flat tan upholstered sheet of plywood positioned just below the greenhouse openings. If I remember correctly the steering wheel was actually only the top half and appeared to be rising out of the upholstered panel.
It was still cool.
So it was like an original VW BUS?
I only see these in Huntington Beach and Newport Beach, CA. They always catch my eye. Too much, too little, too late.
You can look at the Mona Lisa, you can even love the Mona Lisa, but at the price most people will not buy the Mona Lisa.
Think in a Deniro voice
I never see any of these around, but the few I have have been legit exciting! It’s a shame they bungled this so badly.
I have never seen one in Real life, maybe if they worried about the flyover states it might work. Afterall itsv75% of the country and while less of the population overall most of the car ownership population. Do car manufacturers consider just population or do they consider car buyers population?
I’ve seen a few (less than 5) around Honolulu. They look cool, and I even stopped by a local VW dealership when they first arrived on the lots to take a look. The ones on the lot were already called for, and they look great in person. But, not at that price point. I ended getting a 2025 Tacoma that was almost the same price, but definitely more practical for my needs.
Congrats on the Taco! I picked up a ‘25 TRD Off Road about a month ago, and I’m loving it very much.
It should have had the design of the 2001 concept, except with round headlights.
By trying to fit with the “brand identity” of modern VW, it looked overly aggressive just like all the other VW offerings. “Brand identity” is one of the reasons we don’t get to have nice things at affordable prices. Whatever company starts setting that aside to actually build the best possible product that it can at the lowest possible price, giving the buyer good value for the money, will likely do very well.
People don’t want enshittified products.
Still $60 fucking K way to much.