I don't agree with this article. 60k for this is way too much. Ev makers really need to work on pricing.
If it feels like many years since you first saw Volkswagen's retro electric microbus, the ID. Buzz, you're not wrong. It's surprisingly aptly named; I can't think of another car during the past decade that has aroused so much interest among people who don't usually care about four-wheeled transport. Nearly eight years after the concept made its debut, the Buzz is on sale in Europe and has been for a year. Now it's time for America to get its turn, with deliveries starting later this year.
We drove the Euro-spec Buzz almost two years ago, but it's fair to say the version that's coming to the US is a better proposition. The Buzz we drove had a shorter wheelbase, a smaller-capacity battery, and seats only for five, and if you sat in the back, there was no ventilation, and the windows couldn't be opened.
The US market will only receive the longer-wheelbase Buzz, which adds about 10 inches (250 mm) between the axles. This adds room for a third row of seats, making it a proper seven-seater. It should be a bit more humane sitting in the back, as there are air vents—we're waiting to drive it to find out if any windows open back there.
The three-row Buzz also carries a bigger (91 kWh) battery pack, but there's no getting around that retro shape's big bluff frontal area, and the EPA range estimate for the rear-wheel drive Buzz is just 234 miles (377 km), a number we're sure will disappoint many who've been patiently waiting for the electric minibus. All-wheel drive drops the range by 3 miles (5 km).
Cars seem so wildly overpriced to me. They're ten times what I feel willing to pay for the ability to go zoom whenever I want instead of planning ahead, bussing, walking, and taking rail as needed. Failing all else, I can take a cab and it costs no gas or insurance. I don't get what the use-case for cars is, unless you are forced.
Companies still seem to think it's the COVID era where they could tack on an extra $20k to the price of a car and people will still buy it and not an era where prime interest rates are near double digits after years of high inflation. As we're seeing with Stellantis, cars are sitting on lots much longer with no buyers. They've already started layoffs and I expect we'll see it with other companies (along with lower prices and better incentives) soon too.