BERLIN — Volkswagen has a excessive gross sales purpose for its retro-styled ID Buzz battery-electric van.

“We need to promote round 120,000 items a yr,” Volkswagen Passenger Automobiles CEO Ralf Brandstaetter mentioned throughout a livestream of the corporate’s fiscal and product outlook for 2022 and past.

The ID Buzz is the “most emotional ” member of VW’s ID household of battery-electric vehicles, and has what it takes to turn out to be a bestseller, Brandstaetter mentioned.

The ID Buzz has styling components that recall the Microbus, which turn out to be an icon of the Nineteen Sixties Hippy period. A lot consideration has been paid to the van’s two-tone paint scheme, retro-futuristic design, and eco-conscious number of supplies on the inside.

“The ID Buzz has been extremely nicely obtained within the U.S. the place it is even a little bit of a cult determine,” Brandstaetter mentioned.

Advance orders for the ID Buzz are as a consequence of begin in Might, with deliveries scheduled to begin in September in Europe in September the place will probably be offered as a passenger automobile and in a cargo van model. The U.S. will get solely the long-wheelbase model of the passenger van, with deliveries beginning in 2024.

The European variations will come to market with a 77-kWh battery which offers present to a 150-kW electrical motor, which drives the rear axle. The drive system relies on VW’s Modular Electrical Drive (MEB) platform.

The ID Buzz fashions had been proven throughout an occasion livestream from Hamburg’s historic Speicherstadt warehouse district earlier this month.

The corporate can also be testing ID Buzz prototypes with Stage 4 autonomy — which means the autos can drive themselves beneath sure circumstances — to be prepared for business transport of individuals and items for 2025. The self-driving fashions can be used for ride-pooling and supply providers.

The ID Buzz and ID Buzz Cargo are being constructed at VW’s manufacturing facility in Hanover, Germany, alongside the T6.1 Transporter and Caravelle, T7 Multivan and California camper van. An ID Buzz camper van known as ID California is deliberate.

Technically, the ID Buzz relies on VW’s ID 4 electrical crossover.