Retro looks different: The new Bulli from Volkswagen is fully electric and equipped with the latest technology. How interested is the new car?
A few months before the market launch of the ID.Buzz, the successor to the popular VW Bullis, the carmaker is reporting decent demand.
So far there has been a “good number of pre-orders” for the ID.Buzz, said company spokesman Tobias Salzmann on the sidelines of a factory tour in Hanover on Thursday. He did not give an exact number. The market launch in Europe is planned for autumn, and advance sales started in May. By the end of this year, around 15,000 vehicles of the all-electric Bullis should be sold.
Since the start of production at the end of May, 45 cars have been completed every day at the Hanover plant, as the group announced on Thursday. By the end of the year, production is to be increased to up to 140 new vehicles per day. In the future, 130,000 ID.Buzz could be produced in Hanover every year.
Not just for nostalgics
The e-bus is the first contribution from light commercial vehicles (VWN) to the new ID series, and in the medium term it is intended to be a type of series launch for autonomous driving functions. In addition, there are high customer expectations – not only nostalgics from the T1 era should take a close look.
According to Josef Baumert, Production Director VWN, a special feature of the production of the neon-colored bus is the construction of the body, which requires few staff: “We have a degree of automation here of well over 90 percent,” he said.
In the production hall of the VW factory, 1,500 robots hiss and squeak. Only a few people can be seen in the aisles on Thursday – but 4,000 employees were specially trained in vehicle production for the ID.Buzz.
The fact that the electric car is built in Hanover has a long tradition. “We have been manufacturing VW buses here at the site since 1956,” explained Baumert. The new bus has something from every Bulli generation and is not only electric, but also smart. Even the first neon Bullis can contain a number of assistance systems with extended functions. However, higher levels of semi-autonomous and fully autonomous driving are also planned.
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
