Buzz Off

The Volkswagen ID. Buzz is no more in North America.  At least for now.  

Volkswagen has announced that the electric retrograde minivan will not be available in the 2026 model year, though it could return for 2027 or later.

The most obvious reason for the cancellation of the ID. Buzz is the tariff Trump placed on products form the European Union, of course, but there was another thing that doomed the Buzz's fate - the price.  Excluding taxes, title fees, destination charges, dealer charges, and all that rot, an ID. Buzz had a base price of $60,000.  In 1968, the year the second-generation VW Transporter vans debuted in the United States, sixty grand in today's dollars was $6,442 - and the price of a Volkswagen passenger van in 1968 was about $2,500.  In other words, a van like the ID. Buzz would have cost in 1968 twice and half again what the then-new VW Bus cost.  The electric motor is no doubt the reason for the hefty price of the Buzz, but other factors like the dollar being worth less than the euro and the higher wages for German autoworkers also have to be considered.  Not to mention Trump's tariffs.

Now consider this:  Volkswagen was betting its future on electric vehicles, and the United States was part of that gambit.  The plan to turn Americans on to electric VWs (remember the "Voltswagen" name change joke?)  was doomed from the start.  The ID.3 was the same size and style as the Golf, so then-Volkswagen of America CEO Scott Keogh, recognizing the Golf's lack of popularity here, refused to bring it over.  The ID.4 crossover's performance in the ten-day sales report has been incredibly meh.  The ID.7 sedan was coming here . . . until it wasn't.  And Trump, who hates any EV that's not a Tesla, canceled the federal EV tax credit in the meantime.  Now this.  Meanwhile, as I've already noted, Keogh is running the Scout electric-SUV brand, and before one Scout has even been available for the automotive press to review, the brand announced that its vehicles will be hybrids instead.

So, if you live in the New World, you can have any electric Volkswagen you want, so long as it's the ID.4.  The gasoline-powered lineup for Volkswagen in North America, meanwhile, is wanting - just five models (unless I'm supposed to count the Golf twice because the Golf GTI and the Golf R, the only Golf variants offered here, are counted as separate models).  Three of them are SUVs, and only one non-SUV, the Jetta, is priced for the people as a people's car should be.  And the current Jetta is in its eighth model year.   As for the next Golf, the ninth-generation model will be electric, which means it's all but certain that we won't get it in any form, but VW currently has plans to start producing the current Golf in Mexico, which suggests that the base eighth-generation car could finally be available in North America at last.  But VW's current cash crunch, coupled with Trump's saber rattling against Mexico, means that this is all wishful thinking at best.  And it's a safe bet that if the Golf doesn't survive on this continent in any form, the Jetta will disappear as well.  That will be it.  That will really be it.  Even if Volkswagen stays in this market, it will basically be just another SUV-only brand like . . . Buick.

Buick.

I'm holding on to my sixth-generation Golf until I can't drive it anymore - when it's no longer operable or when I'm too old to drive and someone needs to take away my car keys (if they can find them), whichever comes first.