For Heatmap: Three Cheers for Volkswagen’s Electric Van
“It is a head turner, a traffic stopper, a conversation starter.” That’s what The New York Times wrote about the Volkswagen New Beetle when it debuted almost exactly 25 years ago.
That’s the kind of magic Volkswagen hopes to work again starting next year with another reborn icon: the original “Type 2” Microbus that reached a household-name status in the 1960s and ‘70s. And like the New Beetle before it, this new VW Bus offers a taste of nostalgia but ultimately updates the recipe for a new era.
While the New Beetle was powered by diesel and gasoline engines, the VW Bus is reborn as the ID.Buzz, and now it runs on electrons instead of fossil fuels.
The U.S.-spec 2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz made its debut Friday at a special event in Huntington Beach, California, where its surfer-and-hippie-van image was played to the hilt. It’s an understatement to say we’ve been waiting a while for this electrified Type 2 comeback; the original concept car debuted way back in 2017, but the world would wait another five years before the production car would go on sale in Europe. And Americans will have to wait even longer still until sales start here in 2024.
But just as the original Microbus wasn’t known for its speed, this new ID.Buzz makes up for its lack of punctuality with pure charm.
