When Volkswagen revealed the ID.Buzz two years in the past, the corporate offered it because the “rebirth of an icon” — that well-known silhouette, the VW Bus and with all its cultural clout, was lastly again. Now, although, Volkswagen has launched pricing for the revived bus, and it’s a departure from what made the Kind 2 nice.
The brand new ID.Buzz, in North American spec, begins at $59,995 for the bottom rear-wheel-drive Professional S trim. Consumers searching for all-wheel-drive might want to step up not simply to the Professional S Plus trim — $63,495 — however to the extra 4Motion possibility on high of that, which totals out to $67,995.
Again within the heyday of the unique Bus, 1967, it could possibly be had for simply $2,150 — the equal of $20,555 in the present day. In equity, 1967 marked the finish of the T1’s run — by which level tooling might properly have been paid off 0ff — however it’s an fascinating knowledge level when contemplating accessibility. Immediately’s potential van-dwelling, tour-following hippies have to shell out practically triple what their mother and father did. (In all probability price observing that a lot of the Useless followers I do know in 2024, whether or not they’re elder millennials or boomers, are fairly well-off. —ED)
However, evaluating MSRP to MSRP isn’t as apples to apples as you may assume. Common new automobile transaction costs have far outpaced inflation, which means it’s not likely honest to check the ID.Buzz’s worth based mostly solely on the latter. In 1967, the average new-car transaction worth was $3,215, which means {that a} Kombi price about 67 p.c of common. Current knowledge places 2024’s common new automobile transaction worth at $48,644, which means {that a} fashionable Bus would are available in round $32,530 — nonetheless barely over half what the ID.Buzz prices.
However even that doesn’t take note of better financial elements. The common family revenue of the U.S. in 1967 was $7,200, which means a T1 would price about 30 p.c of your mixed wage — name it 4 months’ pay, give or take. Estimates for 2024 common family revenue (we gained’t get the agency knowledge for a pair years) put the quantity at $78,171, which might put comparable ID.Buzz pricing at… $23,295? Wow. Early Volkswagen Busses had been low cost.
Really, the ID.Buzz’s finest level of comparability stands out as the 1979 bus — the final yr of the T2 technology within the U.S., by which era Volkswagen was charging a premium above common new-car transaction costs. A ‘79 Bus, based mostly on the identical common pricing math, would come out to only below $52,000 in the present day. That’s not egregiously removed from the brand new automobile’s $59,995 price, however it’s additionally in a unique class the bus that Volkswagen is making an attempt to evoke, which is true of the remainder of the VW line as properly.
VW desires the ID.Buzz to remind you of the unique Kind 2 bus, with its multicolored paint schemes that run down the van’s entrance finish, however it forgets a giant purpose why that outdated bus grew to become such an icon: Folks may really purchase them. Hippies may get their fingers on a T1 for a good sufficient worth, and the bus grew to become inextricable from their oh so recognizable aesthetic — firmly imprinting cultural clout on these 13 or 23 home windows. With the brand new bus, Volkswagen is cashing in on that clout to the tune of 60 grand, however meaning this new Bus gained’t attain the identical heights of recognizability as the primary. No less than, not new out of the field. We’ll see how the used market treats it.
