VW to unveil electric version of hippie-era minibus in March

Herbert Diess, chief executive officer of Volkswagen AG (VW), speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview at the IAA Munich Motor Show in Munich, Germany, on Monday, Sept. 6, 2021. The IAA, taking place in Munich for the first time, is the first in-person major European car show since the Coronavirus pandemic started. , Bloomberg

Stefan Nicola, Bloomberg News

Jan 6, 2022

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Volkswagen AG will unveil the ID. Buzz, an electric iteration of its iconic hippie-era microbus, on March 9.

Chief Executive Officer Herbert Diess announced the date Thursday in a Twitter post that sketched out the contours of the new design, which draws on the lines of the original model.

VW’s original microbus -- the colorful, bread loaf-shaped van that was a regular sight in the 1960s at music festivals including Woodstock -- has a dedicated fan following. The German company previously said it plans to sell its battery-powered successor in Europe and the U.S.

VW has embarked on an ambitious push to dethrone Tesla Inc. as the global electric-car sales leader. The German company last month allocated 89 billion euros (US$100 billion) to EV and software development over the next half decade and has built a dedicated architecture that will underpin a total of 27 battery-powered models by the end of this year.