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VW wants to ensure EVs are delivering your packages
Typically at auto shows, the focus is on vehicles that consumers can buy in the future. Or at least in the case of concepts, ideas that'll trickle down into cars you can purchase in about five years. Volkswagen decided to show off a variant of its ID Buzz vehicle that's for deliveries. Oh, and an electric cargo bike.
VW will build its electric microbus and crossover in the US
Volkswagen is pushing its EV strategy hard in Europe and China, and now intends to continue its momentum in the US, where it plans to produce its upcoming all-electric microbus and crossover SUV. Confirmed to Autocar this week, VW says it'll produce the I.D. BUZZ electric microbus and I.D. CROZZ Concept in the States, ready for launch in 2022. According to Hinrich Woebcken, head of VW in North America, "For strong product momentum, they need to be produced in the USA. It's not possible to come into a high-volume scenario with imported cars. We want to localize electric mobility in the US."
NVIDIA and Volkswagen team up to build an AI co-pilot
Volkswagen's been talking about its intelligent co-pilot system for upcoming vehicles since last year's CES when it introduced Yui. So it's no surprise that this year it announced it's teaming up with NVIDIA to bring that plan to fruition. Both companies appeared on stage at NVIDIA's press event alongside the I.D. Buzz electric microbus for the announcement.
VW's electric microbus will become a reality in 2022
When Volkswagen unveiled the ID Buzz, the assumption was that it would meet the same fate as many concept cars: it'd look good at an auto show, and promptly disappear when cold economic realities set in. Thankfully, the Buzz won't suffer that fate. VW has announced that it will put the Microbus-inspired EV into production, with a launch expected by 2022. We wouldn't expect everything about the Buzz to remain intact (those large wheels are likely the first things to go), but the '60s-inspired styling, semi-autonomous driving and all-wheel drive option will carry over. VW is even teasing a cargo variant, so couriers may have a clean (and slightly kitschy) alternative to the usual vans.
VW's first ID electric car for the US may be a crossover
Are you champing at the bit waiting for Volkswagen's ID electric cars to hit the market? You might not want to be picky about the choice of body style. Sources speaking to our Autoblog colleagues say that the while the regular, hatchback-style EV will launch first, it won't reach the US -- at least, not initially. Instead, the ID Crozz would be the first of the lineup on American shores, arriving in late 2020 or in 2021. It's not clear why VW would make this move, but it's likely to accommodate a recent American taste for crossovers and target an EV audience that has gone relatively untapped. The Bolt is really more of a hatchback despite Chevy's marketing, and the Tesla Model X is both closer to a pure SUV and priced well beyond the budget of most drivers.
VW's I.D. Buzz concept is a self-driving, electric microbus
As Volkswagen works towards rebuilding itself as an EV automaker, one great way to avoid losing diehard fans is to clean up and refresh a few of those old classics that won them over in the first place. While the company has teased electric reincarnations of the iconic VW bus before, the company's latest microbus concept, the I.D. Buzz, is the first to go all out with a fully autonomous driving mode.
