VW ID.Buzz 7-seater revealed, Australian arm's hand "is firmly up"

It was only a couple of months ago that Volkswagen finally confirmed its fun ID.Buzz EV will come to Australia, and now it's looking hopeful that we'll get this new three-row version too.

Unveiled overnight, the new long-wheelbase (LWB) ID.Buzz is the only version that will be offered in America, while Europe will get both the short- and stretched forms.

Volkswagen Australia hopes to share that plan with Europe, with a spokesperson confirming to Wheels today that the brand has its hand "firmly up for it".

"It’s our intention and in our planning to bring the three-row ID.Buzz to Australia. Further details will be communicated in due course," the spokesperson said.

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Sounds like a sure thing, right? Of course, with even the regular short-wheelbase (SWB) version still more than a year from our shores, anything could happen.

The long-wheelbase version of the ID.Buzz doesn't appear to have a unique name, although the brand appears happy to use the popular 'Bus' name in its description – appearing 20 times in the official press release, but never as a specific model name.

(Many of the mentions are in reference to the 'VW Bus festival' and its marketing-powered proclamation that 'June 2 is now Volkswagen Bus Day'. We do love a holiday...)

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The VW ID.Buzz LWB 'bus' with the ID.7 we won't get, and the ID.4 we WILL get.

In LWB form, the ID.Buzz 'Bus' measures 4962mm long and rides on a 3238mm wheelbase – an increase of 250mm for both numbers. (SWB is 4712mm long, on a 2988mm wheelbase.)

Storage is listed at a maximum of 2469 litres, although that would be with the second and third rows folded. Seats-up figures have not yet been offered.

To move its bigger body and more bodies inside, the ID.Buzz bus gets a larger 85kWh battery pack (up from 77kWh) and a new 210kW motor in America. (Europe, with its statistically slimmer population, will continue with the 150kW motor.)

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Click the above photo to see our full gallery

The 210kW motor enables a 0-100km/h claim of 7.9 seconds, while an upcoming all-wheel-drive GTX variant will get 250kW across two motors and a 0-100km/h sprint of just 6.4 seconds.

The big bus adds a few other new features with its reveal, including a new heat pump for greater efficiency in colder climates, along with a head-up display, remote parking, and a new 1.5sqm panoramic sunroof with electrically polarising glass.

All ID.Buzz models will be built in Germany, so Australian supply – as with the current ID models we've been waiting years for – will depend greatly on the demand in Europe and the US.

For more on the ID.Buzz, see our evolving story at the below link, and John Law's walkaround video below that.