Volkswagen picks Surf City to unveil all-electric Bus update
Surf City U.S.A. seemed like a good place to release an update for the car that has been unmistakably tied to surf culture for decades.
Volkswagen unveiled the new three-row, fully electric ID.Buzz model on Friday morning in the parking lot of Huntington City Beach. The reboot of the 1960s and ‘70s era Volkswagen Type 2, known everywhere as the VW Bus, goes on sale in North America next year.
The scene at the beach tied together past, present and future, as hundreds of VW Bus owners brought their vans to the beach in a scene reminiscent of a giant car show. But the new version stole the show.
“I can’t imagine a better place for a world premiere than here,” said Thomas Schafer, CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars. “Volkswagen Buses belong on the beach, preferably with a surfboard on them and lots of sand on the floor mats.”
June 2 was announced as International Volkswagen Bus Day, with National Calendar Day founder Marlo Anderson on hand to make the announcement. Doing it on the second day of the month, to honor the Type 2, was purposeful.
“The more that we thought about, the more that we wanted the VW Bus to be on [the calendar] and have a holiday of its own,” said Cameron Batten, Volkswagen of America chief communications officer. “The Bus has made a lasting contribution to American culture. It has always brought people together, whether through common interests like surfing or shared journeys like the one that led to Woodstock. The VW Bus reminds us to smile, relax and take life a little less seriously.”
The North American three-row ID.Buzz is longer than the European version and with more giddyup — 282 horsepower on rear-wheel drive models and 330 on all-wheel drive models.
At 194 inches long, it’s more than 2 feet longer than the classic original VW Bus. It also has the iconic large VW logo on the hood that lights up.
Schafer said there are plans for self-driving ID.Buzz models in the future, as well as a camper version. The model’s retail price was not released Friday.
Huntington Beach local Don Ramsey, who founded the popular Kowabunga Van Klan car group in Surf City, is excited. He said he is second in line to buy a new ID.Buzz at the McKenna Volkswagen dealership on Beach Boulevard next spring.
After serving as a medic in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, he said he took his red and silver VW Bus and surfed down in Mexico for a time.
Huntington Beach was the perfect place for Volkswagen to hold Friday’s reveal, Ramsey said.
“It is the hip thing to do, to have a VW Bus and surf in Huntington Beach,” he said. “The Fourth of July, the [Pacific] Airshow, the Surf City Marathon. Three or four of our biggest events that we hold here, they require VW Buses. It’s part of the style, and it shows the way that Huntington Beach is. There’s a reason why we are Surf City.
“It’s like peanut butter and jelly, surfing and VW Buses.”
Huntington Beach resident Peter “P.T.” Townend, a former world surfing champion, wouldn’t argue. Townend was back in his native Australia earlier this week to celebrate his 70th birthday with family, but he didn’t want to miss Friday’s Volkswagen event.
Townend said the Bus, also known as the Kombi, was popular in Australia when he was growing up, though his first car was a 1965 VW Bug.
“I’d drive that thing all over Australia, finding waves,” Townend said. “If there’s a brand in the automobile world that’s attached to the surf culture, it’s VW. There’s no question about it.”
He said he liked the updated design of the ID.Buzz, as well as the increased power.
“I’m sure it’s going to drive a lot better than all of these old Buses over there,” he said with a laugh. “They were road vehicles, so to speak. They got you where you wanted to go, but they definitely weren’t about performance on the road. They’d get a bit of a wobble, you know? This one doesn’t look like it will have a wobble.”
Avid VW Bus collector and comedian Gabriel Iglesias was also on hand and did a short interview on stage. Iglesias, nicknamed “Fluffy,” has a VW Bus collection valued at more than $3 million and has been collecting the vintage cars for the past decade. His first car was a 1968 Type 2 Transporter model.
He’s still in search of a good deal on a 1950 model, which was the first year they were in production.
“The magic of the Bus is that anyone is welcome to be part of the Volkswagen family,” Iglesias said. “It’s not like, ‘Ooh, it’s a Bugatti, ooh, it’s a McLaren.’ No, it’s a Volkswagen. It’s literally a people’s car. Whether you say it in German or say it in English or say it in Spanish, it’s a club that anyone can be a part of. And it’s the coolest club, as far as I’m concerned. Every single Bus back there is an art piece in itself.”
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