Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV) plans to increase production of the ID. Buzz. That should cut delivery times and make the electric model available in more countries. And VWN also wants to expand its range of light electric commercial vehicles.
According to VWCV, the manufacturer has produced more than 32,000 units of the ID. Buzz and ID. Buzz Cargo. And a little less than 10,000 units have been delivered so far. “A number that will now quickly multiply,” VWCV CEO Carsten Intra told Automobilwoche on the sidelines of the carmaker’s annual press conference.
Currently, the waiting time for the two ID. Buzz variants extends into the third quarter of 2023. VWCV wants to cut delivery times and is ramping up production. However, most of that won’t happen until mid-2024. “We plan to build 44,000 ID. Buzz to be built in Hanover,” says Chief Production Officer Josef Baumert. From mid-2024, when the T6.1, the best-selling model to date, is phased out, production in Hanover will expand even further. Then, VWCV will build 650 to 700 ID. Buzz every day.
The increased production should also make it possible to tap into new markets: The long version of the ID. Buzz will be presented in the summer of 2023 and will launch in the USA in 2024. Other countries will follow. “Plans to enter the Japanese market with the ID. Buzz are confirmed and preparations are underway,” Intra says. The electric van is scheduled to launch there in 2024, too. In addition, the company is currently looking at 15 other countries, he says. According to Lars Krause, the company’s board member for sales, Turkey, Israel and Singapore are already firmly planned, where deliveries are also scheduled to begin in 2024.
In Hanover, VWCV can build up to 1,000 vehicles per day; after the aforementioned end of production of the T6.1 in mid-2024, that should be 650 to 700 ID. Buzz and 300 to 350 T7 Multivan. VWCV will likely offer a replacement for the T6.1 with a payload of around one ton (and also with an electric drive) from the fourth quarter of 2024 – but the model will no longer be built in Hanover. Instead, it will be a VW offshoot of the Ford E-Transit Custom from the cooperation with Ford. The model, which is apparently simply called the VW Transporter, will be built with the E-Transit Custom at Ford Otosan in Turkey.
With 1,000 vehicles a day, the Hanover plant would be running at full capacity; this is apparently already the case at VWCV’s two plants in Poland. A partially electric model will soon be built there as well: The manufacturer announced that after the Multivan, the Caddy will also be offered as a PHEV.
vwn-presse.de, automobilwoche.de (in German)
Keyword: VWCV plans 44,000 ID. Buzz in 2023