VW’s CEO says the ID Buzz is on the wrong cost base, and a fix is years away

Volkswagen’s chief executive for the VW brand, Thomas Schäfer, has said plainly what buyers have long suspected about the ID Buzz’s price: the electric van is “on the wrong cost base.” He made the remark to Auto Express at the 2026 Paris Motor Show, and added that a successor is being worked on but is still several years off. The next generation is likely to arrive after 2030, which leaves the current van to carry the nameplate through the rest of the decade.

Help yourself and the planet: The Cool Down makes it easy to help yourself while helping the planet, with smart, simple changes to save more and waste less in your everyday life.

Get The Cool Down →

We may earn a commission if you sign up.

The admission matters because the van is the most recognizable electric product Volkswagen sells in North America, and its sales have not matched the attention it draws. Schäfer did not announce a price cut or a launch date, so what he offered was a diagnosis and a direction rather than a fix that buyers can order.

What Schäfer told Auto Express about price

Carscoops reported on October 16 that Schäfer, speaking to Auto Express, confirmed the next ID Buzz is in development and said the current van is on the wrong cost base. In the Auto Express interview, he also called the car iconic, absolutely. The original report is at Auto Express, whose reporter Ellis Hyde noted the current model starts at close to 60,000 pounds through the outlet’s Buy A Car service.

The Driven, an Australian outlet that covered the same interview, quoted Schäfer saying the cost base makes it difficult to really be successful and get into volume in the market. Its coverage notes that the van went on sale in Australia in late 2024 at 79,990 Australian dollars for the Cargo and 87,990 for the five-seat Pro, and that prices have fallen only a few thousand dollars since.

The Scalable Systems Platform and the cheaper battery

Schäfer said the cost fix lies in the next architecture. The current ID Buzz uses VW’s MEB platform, while the successor is set for the Scalable Systems Platform, known as SSP. Auto Express says SSP promises more range, faster charging and better software, and that sharing the architecture across the Volkswagen Group should lower development and production costs. Schäfer also hinted that cheaper lithium iron phosphate battery packs could help bring the price down.

Timing is the catch. VW’s first SSP model is expected to be a flagship SUV, likely called the ID. Touareg, due before the end of the decade, and the new Buzz comes after that. Electrek noted that the first SSP-based electric vehicle was originally set for 2026 but now arrives by the end of the decade, and that Schäfer did not say when the next Buzz will launch.

Design is the other open question. According to Auto Express, Schäfer said the successor will likely keep the retro look that made the van famous, even though VW design chief Andreas Mindt has warned against repeating retro styling too often. Carscoops adds that Schäfer said VW will not reuse every name from its past but needs to lean on its icons, which suggests the Buzz is safe as a nameplate even while its price and platform are rebuilt from scratch.

The cost argument also sits inside a larger belt-tightening. Carscoops reported on September 3 that VW’s supervisory board approved a plan to eliminate roughly half of the group’s current model lineup by 2035, a context in which a low-volume van priced near 60,000 dollars has to justify its place. That report on the group’s cuts also said Chief Executive Oliver Blume’s plan aims for annual sales of nine million units.

A U.S. gap that runs through 2027

For American buyers the wait is longer than the platform change suggests. The van skipped the 2026 and 2027 model years in the United States and returns for 2028 with a North American Charging Standard port. Carscoops reported in September that VW told dealers on September 24, now expecting the model in the first half of 2027 wearing a 2028 badge, and that the 2028 version adds updated software, vehicle-to-load functionality and a digital key.

Sales show the stakes. Carscoops put U.S. sales at 6,140 units in 2025 and 2,481 in the first half of 2026, and Electrek reported that Volkswagen sold 432 of the vans in the third quarter of 2026, down 82.5 percent from nearly 2,500 a year earlier. Electrek also quoted Jeannine Ginivan of Volkswagen Group of America saying the company is not canceling the van for the American market.

The current model offers up to 234 miles of EPA range from an 86 kWh battery in the long-wheelbase version, and the GTX flagship produces 335 horsepower from dual motors. Carscoops expects the next generation to bring longer range, faster charging, physical climate controls and a larger digital cluster with retro-style dials, but VW has disclosed no pricing for the new model, so the cost-base promise remains unquantified for now.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

Help yourself and the planet: Get The Cool Down →

We may earn a commission if you sign up.