Volkswagen is bringing back one of its most beloved vehicles, this time, as an electric car.
A Beloved Classic
The classic microbus, officially known as the Volkswagen Type 2, was launched in Germany in 1949 and quickly spread worldwide. In the decades that followed it became an icon of counterculture, associated with surfboards and paisley window curtains and big peace signs fastened to its nearly flat face. Microbuses are still prized by customizers.
It lasted longer outside the U.S. The last factory building the Type 2, in Brazil, moved on to producing other models in 2013.
Electric This Time
The bus will return as a 2024 model, known as the ID.Buzz. This time, it’s all-electric. It rides on the same platform as the ID.4 electric SUV. We’ll learn most details about the car later this week when Volkswagen officially lifts the curtain.
But the company has released a few teaser photos and choice details to get us all ready for Wednesday’s unveiling. They include, for the first time, a few views of the ID.Buzz’s interior.
Playful Colors and Easter Eggs
VW has leaned into quirky with the revival. Interior colors will match exterior colors. In the case of the teaser shots, that means orange upholstery inserts on cream-colored seats. VW says seven colors will be offered, including four two-tone schemes like this one.
The seats are upholstered in a material made from 10% marine plastic and 90% recycled plastic bottles. The floor coverings and headliner are 71% recycled plastic (though we don’t know if that means more bottles). The steering wheel is wrapped in leather-like polyurethane material.
The test model featured is a 5-seater, which is likely a short-wheelbase model that will be offered only in Europe. America, we’ve been told, will get a longer-wheelbase version that seats seven. We don’t know whether those seats will reverse to permit lounge-style seating — with the second-row facing the third — but VW has featured that layout heavily enough in advertising that we’d be disappointed if it didn’t make it to production.
VW has worked in a few Easter eggs, like outlines of the car in caricature etched into trim in the second row footwell. But they don’t stop at cool tricks. Engineers have also built a bottle opener and a removable ice scraper into the trim work – a touch so practical we’re amazed we’ve never seen it before.
We’ll bring more details after Wednesday’s big reveal.
