16 October 2026
VW admits the ID. Buzz costs too much. The fix is years away.
Volkswagen's brand chief has confirmed a second-generation ID. Buzz, on a new platform, with cheaper batteries and a lower price. He also said, out loud, that the current van "is in the wrong cost base" — which is the most honest thing anyone at Volkswagen has said about this vehicle.
What was said
Confirmed at Paris
Speaking to Auto Express at the 2026 Paris Motor Show, VW brand chief executive Thomas Schäfer confirmed a next-generation ID. Buzz is in development — notable in itself, given the van has just been delayed to the 2028 model year in America after selling 6,140 units in its best year here.
The headline admission is the pricing. Schäfer said the Buzz is "in the wrong cost base," and that the replacement will be more affordable. That's a chief executive publicly conceding what the sales figures have been saying for two years.
What changes
A different platform underneath
The current van rides on MEB, the architecture underpinning the ID.4 and most of VW's current electric range. The next one moves to SSP — Scalable Systems Platform — the group's successor architecture, which is reported to bring more range, faster charging and better software.
The cost reduction comes largely from lithium-iron-phosphate batteries. LFP is cheaper per kilowatt-hour than the nickel-cobalt-manganese chemistry in the current van, more tolerant of being charged to 100% routinely, and typically longer-lived — at the cost of some energy density and cold-weather performance. For a camper that sits parked and gets charged to full before a trip, that's an unusually good trade.
Inside, expect the treatment given to the new ID.Polo and ID.Tiguan: revised interior, new infotainment, and physical buttons returning. Anyone who has used the current touch sliders in the dark will understand why that counts as news.
The catch
Around 2030, realistically
Schäfer didn't give a date. What's reported is that the first SSP-based Volkswagen — originally slated for 2026 — is now expected "by the end of the decade," with the Buzz arriving some time after that.
So the honest reading is 2030 or later, and this is a company whose ID. Buzz timing has slipped twice in two years. Treat that as a direction of travel, not a date.
What it means if you're shopping
Three doors, and one of them closes in 2030
This doesn't change a 2026 buying decision much, but it clarifies the options, which are now distinct:
- A used 2025. It's the bus, it's available, and it's the only one you can drive this year. No Overnight Mode, no vehicle-to-load, and the 30-minute parked-climate cutoff.
- The 2028. Still MEB, still this generation — a facelift with vehicle-to-load, updated software and, we think, the Tourer camping package. Roughly a year out, if it holds.
- The second generation. Cheaper, longer range, faster charging, better software. Around 2030, on a company's word that has slipped twice already.
There's one wrinkle worth naming if you're buying now. A cheaper, better second generation eventually arriving is bad for the residual value of the one in your driveway. Today's used prices are being propped up by scarcity — 38 new units left and no new supply for a year — and that support disappears the moment the replacement lands. If you buy a first-generation van, buy it to keep.
And the broader point stands. Volkswagen has now said in public that it priced this vehicle wrong. That's the same conclusion the American sales figures, two delays, and the BrightDrop cancellation all reached independently. The electric van isn't failing because nobody wants one. It's failing on price.