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Volkswagen Delays ID. Buzz Return to 2028 Model Year
Volkswagen has pushed the US return of its electric ID. Buzz van to the first half of 2027, badged as a 2028 model, meaning the vehicle will skip two consecutive model years after slow sales and the loss of federal EV tax credits.
By Charlotte Redford · 3 min read
Volkswagen has told its US dealers that the electric ID. Buzz van will not return to American showrooms until the first half of 2027, when it will arrive badged as a 2028 model-year vehicle. The decision, communicated to retailers on 24 September, means the van will skip both the 2026 and 2027 model years — a striking gap for a vehicle that only reached US showrooms in November 2024.
The Buzz had already been pulled from the 2026 model year, a move VW confirmed to dealers in December 2025. The company then announced an updated 2027 lineup in May, promising a return this autumn. That plan has now been abandoned, with the launch pushed back by roughly a year. It is the second consecutive model-year skip for a van that Volkswagen spent years promoting before its US debut.
Volkswagen says the changes previously announced for the 2027 van will carry over to the 2028 model. These include a camping-focused Tourer trim, two-tone paint, physical buttons on the steering wheel, and North American Charging Standard capability. The 2028 version will also gain updated software, vehicle-to-load functionality, and a digital key. The brand is presenting the delay as a way to bundle several upgrades into a single launch.
«The 2028 ID Buzz brings together meaningful customer-focused enhancements in a single launch,» the automaker said. Notably, Volkswagen did not specify what caused the latest delay, nor did it release pricing or other details. Those omissions matter because this is not the first shift in the timeline, and the van's commercial performance has been weak.
The ID. Buzz arrived in the US some 20 years after Volkswagen first teased the concept. It launched with extremely limited range, a narrow choice of trims, and a high price. Without access to the federal EV tax credit, that price looks even harder to justify. The result has been modest demand: just 6,140 sales during 2025 and 2,481 in the first half of this year.
Tariffs are now an additional pressure for Volkswagen to weigh as it plans the US launch. The company has not said whether the delay will affect pricing, but the combination of trade costs and the absence of EV incentives suggests the van's positioning will remain a challenge.
For dealers, the extended pause is awkward. The Buzz was meant to give Volkswagen a distinctive electric entry in the growing camper and lifestyle van segment, and the upcoming Tourer trim is aimed squarely at that audience. Instead, retailers face another year without the vehicle, while rivals continue to expand their electric line-ups.
Volkswagen insists the van is not dead. Americans will receive what sounds like a significantly updated version in the not-too-distant future — if the company can stay on track this time. Whether the automaker can sweeten the deal enough to make the long break worthwhile for dealers and customers remains an open question, particularly if the price continues to climb.
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