Despite its sleek modern looks and decent specifications, the all-electric Volkswagen ID.Buzz van has only sold 60,700 units in 2025. Only 6,140 out of those were in North America. As it now turns out, the company had considered hybridizing the lineup to bolster sales – but things didn’t pan out.
According to Stefan Mecha, CEO of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, the engineering department had underestimated just how purpose-built the ID.Buzz was. Earlier estimations suggested that it could accommodate a petrol engine in addition to its electric motors and traction battery, but later tests decisively proved that it was impossible without costly re-engineering and retooling.
Despite its apparent dire state, Volkswagen remains dedicated to its mission of electrifying commercial transports. To that end, the company plans an upgrade of its Hannover plant to enable the production of an all-new and versatile LCV platform known as Space. The next generations of the Volkswagen Caddy, Multivan and Transporter will all be based on it, while the next-gen Crafter will borrow certain parts of it, Mecha says.
With this impending next generation being much more flexible by design, the fate of the ID.Buzz is up in the air. For all we know, it might never see another generation.