VW Microbus
| Volkswagen | |
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| Microbus | |
| Presentation year: | 2001 |
| Vehicle fair: | NAIAS , Detroit |
| Class : | Van |
| Body shape : | Station wagon |
| Engine: |
Otto engine : VR6 3.2 liters (170 kW) |
| Length: | 4722 mm |
| Width: | 1909 mm |
| Height: | 1904 mm |
| Wheelbase: | 3000 mm |
| Production model: | none |
| Volkswagen | |
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| Bulli | |
| Presentation year: | 2011 |
| Vehicle fair: | Motor Show , Geneva |
| Class : | Van |
| Body shape : | Station wagon |
| Production model: | none |
| Volkswagen | |
|---|---|
Budd-E |
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| Budd-E | |
| Presentation year: | 2016 |
| Vehicle fair: | CES , Las Vegas |
| Class : | Van |
| Body shape : | Station wagon |
| Engine: | 2 electric motors |
| Length: | approx. 4600 mm |
| Width: | approx. 1940 mm |
| Height: | approx. 1840 mm |
| Wheelbase: | 3151 mm |
| Production model: | none |
| Volkswagen | |
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| ID buzz | |
| Presentation year: | 2017 |
| Vehicle fair: | NAIAS , Detroit |
| Class : | Van |
| Body shape : | Station wagon |
| Engine: | two electric motors - 374 HP (275 kW) |
| Length: | 4942 mm |
| Width: | 1976 mm |
| Height: | 1963 mm |
| Production model: | 2022 |
In the first two decades of the 21st century, the German Volkswagen group successively presented several concept vehicles for a minibus or maxivan under different names that consciously incorporated the concepts and style elements of the first T1 / T2 VW buses , which were known as VW Bulli and icons of hippie culture had become known when retro elements were picked up and mostly alluded to the model from the post-war period.
In January 2001 the drivable VW Microbus was presented for the first time at the NAIAS in Detroit . As a series model, the Microbus was to be positioned between the Sharan and the T5 as a more emotional MPV and was developed very far, but the planned series production was not realized.
The very similar follow-up study VW Bulli was shown for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show 2011 . Series production as the VW New Bulli , similar to the New Beetle , was planned for 2015 alongside the T6 , but was also discarded.
After the VW emissions scandal , VW finally presented a further development of the concept as VW Budd-E , which relies exclusively on electric motors, not first at an automobile fair , but at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show . The name alludes in English buddy 'mate' and with the separated E on the pure electric drive.
Since 2017, VW's underlying platform with the modular electric drive kit (MEB) for purely electrically powered vehicles has been called “ID” and the Bulli legacy Buzz or VW ID based on it. Buzz . The start of sales is scheduled for 2022 this time. The name from the English verb to buzz 'hum' is intended to allude to the electric drive and bus at the same time .
A related vehicle study in the commercial vehicle sector is the VW eT! from 2011/2012.
development
The microbus was designed by Volkswagen in the Californian design center and was therefore tailored to the American market. The T1 was already being sold there under the name “Microbus”. After the concept had been presented at various automobile shows in America, Europe and Asia and the public reactions were positive, it was decided to go into series production. The VW commercial vehicle plant in Hanover-Stöcken was chosen as the production location , where the first VW bus was manufactured more than 50 years ago. To this end, the site was to be fundamentally restructured and 1,500 new jobs created in the Auto 5000 subsidiary, which enables its own tariff . Production should start in 2005 at the earliest and an annual production target of 80,000 vehicles should be achieved. Of this, 60 to 70 percent were intended for the main sales market, the USA, where the Microbus was to be offered at prices starting at around 30,000 dollars (approx. 21,000 euros at the time).
In March 2005 it was decided that the Microbus would not be built in the form originally intended: The design should be more clearly adapted to European tastes and retro elements should be dispensed with as far as possible. It was also planned to use significantly more parts of the VW T5 for the Microbus than initially planned. The start of production was also postponed to 2007, and Hanover was retained as the location.
In 2006, Bernd Pischetsrieder finally announced that the Microbus would not be built because it had become too heavy, too expensive and too commercial vehicle-oriented. Based on the VW Touran II planned for 2013, a New Microbus was to be built one year later . The significantly more compact and, thanks to the technology of the VW Golf, also cheaper car should then be combined with the Beetle , a small roadster and the "Space" version of the up! form a new VW product family.
In September 2015, VW announced that it would present an all-electric microbus for postal and delivery services in the USA.
gallery
VW Microbus study at the IAA (2001)
VW Bulli at the Tokyo Motor Show (2011)
VW Budd-e at the Geneva Motor Show (2016)
VW ID Buzz in Wolfsburg (2018)
particularities
The concept study is equipped with modern technology : there are screens in the center console and in the backrests of the first and second row of seats . The conventional interior rearview mirror has also been replaced by a screen with a rearview camera . There is also a joystick integrated into the instrument panel to control the Tiptronic five-step automatic. The transparent plastic interior floor of the car, through which you can see the aluminum surface underneath, is also a new development.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Motorvision: VW New Bulli goes into series production in 2015 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Cars , motors and sports: VW Budd-E at the CES
- ↑ Telepolis: VW wants to be electric in the future
- ↑ Heise Online: VW wants to build the ID Buzz electric Bulli in series
- ↑ Driving report VW ID Buzz. Your next Bulli is electric - if you want: ID Buzz in the first test (2017-08-19) by Wolfgang Gomoll for Focus Online
- ↑ VW builds the microbus - the Bulli is coming again! In: Auto Bild online edition. June 11, 2002, accessed November 27, 2010 .
- ↑ VW Microbus is coming, but differently than originally planned. In: Auto News online edition. April 24, 2004, accessed November 27, 2010 .
- ↑ Georg Kacher: New Touran and its retro brother - VW builds the baby bus. In: Auto Bild online edition. November 29, 2010. Retrieved November 29, 2010 .
- ↑ VW Commercial Vehicles returns to the USA. In: Wirtschaftswoche. September 3, 2015, accessed May 26, 2016 .
- ↑ VW Budd-E at the CES. In: Auto, Motor und Sport. January 6, 2016, accessed May 26, 2016 .
