The 2023 Volkswagen ID Buzz has been spied testing in the snow, and there’s now almost no camouflage remaining.
With tape only over the badges, this is the clearest look yet at the exterior of Volkswagen’s upcoming electric people mover, set to be introduced in Europe in 2022.
Up front there are production-specification headlights with circular fog lights towards the bottom of the bumper.
There’s only a small air intake at the bottom of the front fascia as the electric powertrain and battery pack doesn’t require as much ventilation as a traditional internal-combustion powertrain.
It’s riding on a new style of five-spoke alloy wheels, almost like those of the Mk5 Golf GTI, while there’s a sliding door on each side.
This prototype appears to have two charging port covers, with one located on the left-hand front fender and the other located on the right-hand rear quarter panel.
The rear flap appears to be covering the charging port, but it’s unclear what the smaller front flap is covering.
At the rear of the ID Buzz is a large tailgate along with a tow bar. We don’t yet know how much it’ll be able to tow.
Speaking of hauling, the ID Buzz will also have a cargo-carrying sibling, the ID Cargo, which has been previously spied.
Volkswagen recently teased the ID Buzz at the end of its ID.5 and ID.5 GTX official reveal with rainbow camouflage.
The automaker has also 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 ride-sharing subsidiary MOIA.
A self-driving prototype was recently spied during testing boasting a raft of cameras, radars and a LiDAR sensor.
Pictured: ID Buzz AD prototype interior
Our spy photographers also caught some shots of the self-driving prototype’s interior, which bore similarities to its ID.3 and ID.4 sibling in its instrument cluster, gear selector and infotainment screen.
The infotainment screen in particular even displayed the ID Buzz AD as an ID.3 hatchback.
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.
We expect the production version of the ID Buzz will be available with a variety of battery sizes, as well as with a choice of rear- or all-wheel drive.
It uses the MEB platform underpinning the ID.3 hatch and the ID.4, ID.5 and ID.6 crossovers. The architecture is also used by other brands in the Volkswagen Group, like Cupra (the Born), Skoda (the Enyaq) and Audi (the Q4 e-tron).
The ID Buzz appears to have been toned down compared with the original concept, first revealed in 2017, which was more of an homage to the original Type 2 bus.
ID Buzz concept
At this stage it’s not clear when the people mover 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 sends cars to markets where they can reduce fleet emissions and help the brand avoid huge fines.
It has, however, said it’s enthusiastic about introducing the model here.
