All-new Volkswagen ID. Buzz confirmed with new tech and a cheaper price

A new-generation of the Volkswagen ID. Buzz minibus is happening, VW CEO Thomas Schäfer has revealed to the Auto Express. Despite the once eagerly-anticipated, very loveable retro minibus not proving to be the sales success that was hoped so far, plans for a replacement using the latest tech are underway.

In an interview with Auto Express at the 2026 Paris Motor Show, when asked about the future of the ID. Buzz, Schäfer said that “they’re working on it”. Updates are on the way for the existing four-year-old model, then we’ll see an all-new second-generation that the Volkswagen’s head honcho confirmed will use its cutting-edge Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) architecture.

“The car is iconic, absolutely,” he said, and emphasised that Americans do love the ID. Buzz, even if that's not reflected in the MPV’s sales figures. Part of the reason why it’s struggled to translate retro nostalgia into actual sales is price, with Schäfer admitting the ID. Buzz “is on the wrong cost base. That makes it difficult to really be successful and get into volume in the market, unfortunately. But it shows that if you stay true to the brand, you can have an exciting brand.”

It’s not about creating some romantic image of VW reliving some glory days, Schafer stressed, adding that the famous brand will not reuse every single name or iconic car from its past like certain others seem to be doing. But he did acknowledge “the iconic stuff, you need to use, because the other new brands don't have that. They have no history.”

Timeless style

The timeless style of the ID. Buzz is probably the reason most people buy it, and that’s almost certainly going to remain a core part of the next model. Interestingly, however, Volkswagen’s head of design Andreas Mindt recently reminded us how people can get tired of retro-inspired cars, as VW saw with its own new Beetle not that long ago.

“I don’t want to repeat a design over and over again, I think there’s a dead end to it,” VW’s design boss told Auto Express. “We had that with the new Beetle. You do one Beetle, then another and then people get tired. How can you succeed from there? There’s a stop somewhere when you go down this path. We did it already and we found it’s no good.”

But, Mindt also tells us he and VW’s design team have some clear ideas about where to take the ID, Buzz, and seemed excited about the challenge: “When you have a van, it doesn’t have too much character; one white van looks like the other white van. So what do you do to make it interesting? Well the ID. Buzz is one of the interesting ones and when I do a van, I want to make an interesting one. This I can promise you in the future: it will be interesting.”

We’re eager to see how Volkswagen will evolve the ID. Buzz to create something that has all the charm, character and sense of nostalgia that the current model exudes, but perhaps in a more nuanced way. 

Volkswagen has begun embracing its heritage more overtly in recent years but in a less obvious way than firms like Renault, for instance. It’s refocusing on the core values that fans loved about its most treasured models for. “Our three values are: stable, likeable and secret sauce,” Mindt explained. “You can apply this in the past, in the present and in the future as well, as these values are timeless.”

The ID. Buzz requires lots of secret sauce, says Mindt, but we’re confident that there’s plenty to go around at the newly re-energised Volkswagen that appears to have found its mojo again under Schäfer and Mindt’s leadership.

Volkswagen’s latest interior design concept, as featured in the new ID. Polo and ID. Tiguan, offers big improvements in functionality and quality compared to what’s currently found in the ID. Buzz. The retro minibus still features the much-hated touch-sensitive temperature controls, rather than physical switches. So as well as focusing on space and practicality, the new bus should also get this much nicer, still fun cabin set-up.

How to build a cheaper ID. Buzz

As we mentioned, the next ID. Buzz will be based on the VW’s new SSP architecture that will offer several significant advantages over the old MEB platform used by the outgoing model. These include more range, faster charging and better software. It could even help make the new-age hippie bus less expensive, as SSP will become the one highly unified foundation for a massive number of models within the expansive VW Group, bringing down development and production costs as a result. 

When we asked about how VW will make the new ID. Buzz less expensive than the outgoing model – which, for context, now starts at close to £60,000 through the Auto Express Buy A Car service – Schafer hinted that more affordable lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries could play a role too. But advancements that offer cost-savings like these will happen continuously over time, so we’ll have to stay tuned to see what the German powerhouse comes up with.

Schafer didn’t drop any hints on when exactly the next-generation ID. Buzz might arrive, but we know that VW’s first model based on the SSP platform will be a flagship SUV, that we suspect will be called the ID. Touareg. That car is due before the end of the decade, so the new Buzz will be some time after that. 

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