The Volkswagen ID Buzz, which was confirmed to replace the Touran in a report last year, will be offered in three variants that cater to consumers operating in the commercial sphere. This includes a ride-pooling, ride-hailing and commercial van configuration.
Based on information sourced by Automotive News Europe, the European market will get a six-seater layout that caters to ride-pooling services with rear seats that will be individually accessible. An interactive information screen will also be provided to each passenger. In the USA, a similar ride-hailing variant will be offered for companies that provide services to travellers. This variant will have two pairs of seats that face one another. With the notable global boom in online shopping, the third example of the Volkswagen ID Buzz will be a cargo variant available to parcel delivery companies.
The Volkswagen ID Buzz is due to hit the European market late next year followed by a US release in 2024. A separate variant of the electric van will also be produced for the private segment.
In the long-run, Volkswagen aims to develop the ID Buzz into an autonomous carrier that caters to the transport and delivery sphere. Christian Senger, VW’s head of development for autonomous driving, said an autonomous ID Buzz Cargo would eliminate the requirement for a human driver thus making parcel delivery more productive. “Our answer is autonomous delivery vans for the distribution networks of tomorrow, where delivery workers no longer need driver’s licenses and become passengers who focus on their loads and the order of deliveries,” he said during the company’s Strategy 2030 presentation earlier this month.
Senger says that with these solutions, the brand expects €70 billion (R1,2 trillion) in revenue from mobility services in the five largest European markets by 2030. Volkswagen plans to offer autonomous mobility solutions in certain markets by as soon as 2025 and sees substantial revenue potential from offerings including ride sharing and automated parcel delivery services.
