It has been around five years since it was first revealed in concept form, but now the 2023 Volkswagen ID Buzz electric vehicle (EV) officially has a debut date.
Set to be globally revealed on the March 9, this date was published by Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess on Twitter.
“The legend returns on 03/09/22,” read the tweet published by Mr Diess, which caused confusion among many commenters around if the debut date is March 9 or September 3.
In a response to one of the confused commenters, Mr Diess confirmed the reveal date is actually March 9.
Accompanying this tweet is a short timelapse video that sketches out the ID Buzz with its instantly recognisable front three-quarter silhouette.
The ID Buzz has been spied a number of times over the last six months during testing in passenger, cargo-carrying ID Cargo and autonomous ID Buzz AD versions.
It was recently teased at the tail end of the Volkswagen ID.5 and ID.5 GTX official reveal with a rainbow camouflage.
The ID Buzz is built on the MEB platform underpinning the ID.3 hatch and the ID.4, ID.5 and ID.6 crossovers.
ID Buzz prototype 
ID Cargo prototype
It’s also used by other brands in the Volkswagen Group, like Cupra (the Born), Skoda (the Enyaq) and Audi (the Q4 e-tron).
We expect the ID Buzz will be available with a variety of battery sizes, as well as with a choice of rear- or all-wheel drive.
The passenger-carrying ID Buzz can be distinguished from its ID Cargo sibling by its sliding doors on both sides, rather than just on the right-hand side, and the windows that extend to the rear of the vehicle.
Volkswagen has teamed up with US autonomous driving startup Argo AI in the hopes of using an autonomous version of the people mover, called the ID Buzz AD, as a robotaxi on Volkswagen’s electric ride-sharing subsidiary MOIA.
ID Buzz AD prototype
This ID Buzz AD is aiming for SAE Level 4 autonomous driving and was revealed at the Munich motor show boasting a raft of cameras, radars and a LiDAR sensor.
The interior of an ID Buzz AD was previously spied and bore similarities to its ID.3 and ID.4 siblings in its instrument cluster, gear selector and infotainment screen.
Volkswagen is aiming for the regular ID Buzz to go on sale in other markets by late 2022, with the SAE Level 4 autonomous version by 2025.
ID Buzz concept
At this stage it’s not clear when the ID Buzz could actually be coming Down Under.
VW Australia has previously said it’ll be late 2023 or 2024 before we see the ID.4 SUV and ID.3 hatchback locally, as head office first sends cars to markets where EV demand is highest.
It has, however, said it’s enthusiastic about introducing the model here.
