The Volkswagen Microbus is officially coming back and it'll be electric
On Saturday, Volkswagen confirmed that it will put the electric I.D. BUZZ Concept car into production as the spiritual successor to the company's iconic microbus.
Volkswagen made the announcement during the 2017 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in Monterey, California.
"This vehicle unites past and future, as well as Pebble Beach and Silicon Valley," Volkswagen CEO Dr. Herbert Diess, said in a statement.
According to Volkswagen, the decision to make the announcement at Pebble Beach was in honor of the important role California has played in the history of the microbus and to the contributions of the VW van to the state's car culture.
"The Microbus has long been part of the California lifestyle. Now we're bringing it back by reinventing it as an electric vehicle," Dr. Diess added.
Volkswagen hasn't offered its imported Transporter van to US buyers in roughly 15 years and it hasn't had a van at all in the US market since it dropped the Routan in 2014. ( The Routan was a rebadged fifth-generation Dodge Caravan.)
VW has not released technical specs for the production van. However, the concept car has a range of 270 miles, 369 horsepower from its all-electric drivetrain, and a 111 kWh battery pack can reach 80% charge in 30 minutes. The I.D. BUZZ-based microbus will be built on VW Group's new MEB electric vehicle platform.