12.500 pre-orders for the ID. Buzz

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWN) has published an update on the interim status of pre-orders for the ID. Buzz. This has revealed currently around 12,500 pre-orders – of which more than 6,000 reservations are for the ID. Buzz Cargo.

As VWN boss Carsten Intra told the German automotive publication Automobilwoche, the delivery time for the ID Buzz is currently around half a year. “We are now already at the delivery date at the end of the first quarter, March or April 2023,” he said. The annual production is virtually already sold out beyond this year where production has been picked up again after a delay at the VWN plant in Hanover.

Carsten Intra also confirmed what VWN said at the presentation of the ID. Buzz in Copenhagen: VWN has been surprised about the high demand, even though there are currently no ID. Buzz at dealers, and none of the customers has seen, touched or driven the vehicle. In Copenhagen, VWN representatives let it slip that although they formally speak of pre-orders, they are already binding orders – and not just reservations for a minimal fee that can be revoked at any time.

“Of the 15,000 or so vehicles we will build in 2022, not all can be delivered to customers immediately,” the VWN boss said. “We first have to stock the dealers first. So the first 6,000 vehicles will go into the showrooms, then the customer vehicles will come.”

Following the IAA Transportation in Hanover currently underway, the first dealers will be stocked with demonstrators, according to Intra. Delivery of the first customer vehicles is scheduled for November. Intra did not say which mix of private customer and cargo versions VWN is aiming for. In the pre-orders, the cargo share is a little less than 50 per cent but it remains to be seen whether production is planned accordingly.

The German carmaker has also given new statements on the production ramp-up itself. According to Intra, 100 ID. Buzz are currently being produced per day in Hanover, a number that should grow to 200 units per day by the end of the year. “And next year we will really ramp it up,” says Intra “It should already be heading towards 100,000.” Eventually, up to 130,000 ID. Buzz per year are to be built in Hanover.

In June this year, pre-orders for the ID Buzz were opened in the UK. And as of July, UK customers can place orders for what is surprisingly the first all-electric vehicle for Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. The electric combi-van is based on the Modular Electric Drive Kit (MEB) platform.

According to this latest report, VWN is already thinking about expanding its capacity and wants to conquer new markets in Asia, such as Japan, Thailand and Malaysia, as well as China. The VWN plant in Poznan, Poland, “could perhaps still play a role. But we are not looking at other options at the moment,” the VWN boss said. Intra thus also rejected rumours that the ID. Buzz could also be built in the USA, where the MEB van is due to be launched in 2024. Although there is currently no production line for the ID. Buzz in the US, Intra said that this may come into question after the sales launch in the USA in 2024: “Of course, there will be another surge in demand,” he said. “Then we’ll have to see how high the demand is there and whether we can increase the capacity again.”

automobilwoche.de (in German)