Late last month, we caught our first glimpse of the ID.BUZZ in its closer-to-production guise testing on the road. Unfortunately, with just two photos of the van, our ability to parse what was going on with the VW was limited. Now we’ve got a whole bunch more photos to share.
Caught testing in the Alps, the ID.BUZZ is no longer being disguised as a Transporter, as we’d seen previously. Instead, it features more subtle but in some ways trickier camo. Although this looks roughly like the prototype VW has been showing off since 2017, there’s still subterfuge happening here.
Read Also: First Look Inside VW’s ID.BUZZ Interior As Test Mule Shows Up In The Alps
To start, the headlights have been artificially widened and lengthened to hide their real shape. And although they still look roughly like an ID vehicle’s lights, we would predict that they’ll look a little thinner and svelter on the production ID.BUZZ.
There are also some weird seams happening around the bodywork at the front of the car. Although it’s unclear just how much of that is camouflage and how much is the very real need for parts to be reasonably sized at this juncture, we wouldn’t be surprised if its real face was being concealed here.
Around the back, the brake lights also appear to be altered by stickers. The prototype had very thin taillights and, although we wouldn’t be surprised to see those grow a bit, they don’t appear to be quite right here. No interior shots were gotten, but previous shots suggest that it will be distinctly ID-like. Speaking of the rear, “Bremsentest” means brake test in German, by the way.
Expected to ride on a variety of battery packs, ranging from 48 to 111 kWh, the ID.BUZZ should be good for up to 550 km (341 miles) of range on the European test cycle. The ID.BUZZ will go on sale in Europe first next year available in both passenger and commercial configurations, the latter of which is what we think we see here. The retro van will be sold in the US starting in 2023. Autonomous tech is expected for the van as early as 2025.