VW Reboots Groovy '60s VW Bus To Make It Faster, Roomier And Electric

America apparently needs more car seats. So, when Volkswagen unveiled the ID. Buzz, a retro-styled electric van, last year, it noted that the version for the North American market would be longer and would have three rows of seats.

Photo Insert: The ID. Buzz is also far more powerful, and faster. The electric motor is capable of producing 282 horsepower, more than 10 times the horsepower of an early VW Bus.

As promised, it’s nearly a foot longer than the two-row model. It’s still not huge, though. At 194.4 inches, front to back, it’s about 10 inches shorter than a Chrysler Pacifica minivan, but can still seat up to seven, Peter Valdes-Dapena reported for CNN Business.

The ID. Buzz is designed to recall the Volkswagen T1, or Transporter. That iconic model was introduced in 1949 and is better known as the Microbus, or just the VW Bus.

In America, it became associated with the Hippie movement, but the Bus also provided transportation for large families long before the front-wheel-drive minivan was invented by Chrysler in the 1980s.

Like the original Bus, the base version of the ID. Buzz will be rear-wheel-drive, with power coming from a motor mounted in the back. This time it’s a quiet electric motor rather than a noisy gasoline engine.

It’s also far more powerful, and faster. The electric motor is capable of producing 282 horsepower, more than 10 times the horsepower of an early VW Bus.

The new ID. Buzz will also be available with all-wheel-drive, with a total of up to 330 horsepower coming from two electric motors, one at the front and one at the back.

The all-wheel-drive version has a top speed of 99 miles per hour, while the rear-wheel-drive van can reach 90 miles an hour. The interior of the VW ID. Buzz has a 13-inch center touchscreen and a removable storage console.

The ID. Buzz’s second-row seats slide forward to allow easier access to the third row and can fold down to allow for large cargo. The third row of seats can be removed altogether.

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