Dealer allocations for the ID.Buzz will reportedly hinge on how many ID.4 models retailers have been able to move. While there will be more going into VW’s through process than that, the volume of EVs dealers have sold will apparently be playing a very large role in terms of how many electrified vans will be made available for showrooms this fall.
According to Automotive News, the ID.Buzz is scheduled to start arriving at dealerships this Thanksgiving and those that have already seen success with Volkswagen’s other all-electric models will apparently receive first dibs. CEO of Volkswagen America Pablo Di Si told the outlet that the automaker expects the Buzz to be in high demand over the next couple of years, stressing that the vehicle needs to be injected into markets where it’ll be the most appreciated.
While the Buzz was indeed a much-anticipated model when it initially debuted, interest in all-electric vehicles seems to be waning in the United States. The market is becoming more saturated and the resulting vehicles are priced fairly high. Considering how price sensitive American car buyers have become in recent years, now might not be the best time to offer an EV starting at $61,545.
There are much cheaper minivans on the market, meaning someone would really need to be interested in an unique EV for them to pull the trigger on the Buzz. Volkswagen undoubtedly knows this, which may explain why it’s trying to focus allocations where it’ll receive the most attention.
From Automotive News:
Andrew Savvas, VW's head of U.S. sales, said each VW dealership will get one or two ID Buzz models for the vehicle's U.S. launch. That will equate to a ramp-up that Savvas described as “quite tight.”
He said VW's allocation policy is based on the size of a dealership's market, along with its ID4 sales performance.
“We want to obviously give the cars to the dealers who did a wonderful job on ID4,” Savvas said.
The ID4, VW's first electric crossover sold in the U.S., went on sale in 2021. The nameplate had its best year in 2023 when sales surged 84 percent to 37,789. The brand issued a stop-sale order on the ID4 in September over faulty door handles.
Savvas said VW shared the allocation formula with the brand's national dealer advisory council to make sure it was, as he described, transparent, ethical and fair.
Fair or not, it makes more sense to do it this way than send a bunch of Buzz models to VW dealers where it has no chance of selling. We also don’t want to question Volkswagen’s decision because the company has enjoyed a juicy increase in sales volume over the last couple of years. But it wasn’t EVs doing the heavy lifting. VW owes its recent sales boom to the Jetta, GTI, and Atlas — which are reasonably priced combustion models.
By contrast, the ID.4 saw strong demand shortly after its launch and then declining volumes in the United States. This has actually been the trend with a lot of all-electric models sold by an array of brands.
“The car will sell extremely well for the first two years,” Di Si told Automotive News. “Then you need to have innovations and different versions, that we have in the books, and you need to keep it interesting, need to keep it lively.”
Hopefully those new variants aren’t too expensive. The cheapest version of the Buzz will already sticker above $60,000, with the rear-drive Pro S Plus costing $65,000 and First Edition model coming in at $67,000. Meanwhile, anyone wanting to make their Buzz all-wheel drive will need to drop an additional $4,500.
Considering that both the dual and single motor versions of the electric van offer a little over 230 miles of range ( charging is supposed to be good), anybody seriously interested in the model is likely more interested in its unique design than practicality. But we’ve been getting teasers for what seems like decades at this point, so a lot of the mystique was lost in the interim period.
Di Si is likely right about demand. There will be a period where those who have been waiting on the model will eagerly scoop it up. But it is hard to imagine it having mass-market success, even if it ends up being the most luxurious minivan ever built.
As for dealer markups, they’ll probably be unavoidable for the first few months. This is an interesting vehicle that got a lot of attention for years. But it’s similarly hard to imagine a world where Buzz transactions exist above MSRP indefinitely. Once all the dudes have bought one in a color that matches their restored Volkswagen Type 2, presumably so they can take photos of them together, those markups are going to end. Volkswagen likewise said it wants to discourage dealerships from taking advantage of customers, since it would like them to return when they need another vehicle.
“It's not for me to comment on individual dealers' pricing, but it is my opinion that every customer should be looked after and respected because they will be a customer again in the future,” stated Di Si.
[Images: Volkswagen]
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