(GCR) VW CONFIRMS ID.BUZZ CAMPER VAN

Volkswagen last week confirmed a camper version of its upcoming ID.Buzz electric van.

Dubbed ID.California, the electric camper van was mentioned in a VW business update as a new "model derivative" to be manufactured at its Hanover, Germany, commercial-vehicle factory. That language, along with VW's previous confirmation that ID.Buzz models will be built in Hanover, indicates the California will be just one of several ID.Buzz variants, alongside passenger and cargo versions.

VW teased the production ID.Buzz last month, with a full reveal next year and U.S. deliveries likely in 2023. The electric van, which is expected to be a spiritual successor to the classic VW Microbus but based on the automaker's MEB dedicated EV platform, has been a long time coming.

The ID.Buzz was announced in January 2017, and we drove it in concept form later that year. The original concept was a passenger van, but VW subsequently unveiled a concept cargo version in 2018.

Despite the long gestation period, the California still has a shot at being the first factory electric camper van to reach production. Nissan has shown a camper version of its Leaf-based e-NV200, but that model isn't production-bound. Green Car Reports - link - Stephen Edelstein - link - more like this - link