Volkswagen ID.Buzz timing firms as Australian arm eyes Scout electric pick-up brand

Volkswagen’s passenger car business might be on a clear path to full electrification, but don’t expect the commercial vehicle business to follow suit.

Despite strong interest in models like the all-electric ID.Buzz and the coming e-Crafter van, the electric rollout for Volkswagen Commercial vehicles will be slower than its passenger car business.

However, VW Commercial’s Australia arm has its hands high in the air for the ID.Buzz and its derivatives, as well as the reborn Scout electric pick-up brand that’s confirmed for the US.

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VW brand chief Thomas Schaefer announced in October that the carmaker would hit its target of only producing electric cars in Europe by 2033 - earlier than the originally announced 2033-2035 timeframe.

This of course has been prompted by the European Union’s plan to effectively ban the sale of petrol and diesel-powered passenger cars, SUVs and light-commercial vehicles by 2035.

Speaking with CarsGuide recently, Volkswagen Australia Commercial Vehicles director Ryan Davies confirmed that there was no date set for when VW commercial vehicles would go fully electric, highlighting some of the reasons for that, including Australian drivers’ love of towing.

“That's largely because we'll continue to have cars that there just aren’t electric solutions for at the moment. Yes, we're hoping to have one for Crafter in the future. Amarok will hopefully have an electric equivalent in the future as well. But the reality is that when you've got towing needs and things like that, you're going to have to have vehicles that don't run out of juice in 150 or 200 kilometres,” he said.

“So there's still going to be a need for those sorts of requirements. And we don't have a target from a commercial vehicles perspective when we're going to be fully electric, as yet.”

Despite the slower rollout of electric vans and utes compared with the passenger car brand, Mr Davies said he is keen to evaluate any VW electric commercial vehicles for the Australian market.

In terms of the retro ID.Buzz electric van, Mr Davies said it was still something the Australian team is pushing hard to get here soon.

The Scout concept is essentially an ID.Buzz, but instead of a van rear section, it maintains four doors and a tray.

“We don't have confirmation of that yet. but our target is for 2024. And that's what we're aiming at.”

Another EV on the local radar is the yet-to-be-revealed Scout pick-up. Scout was a famous brand in the 1960s and 70s and VW announced in May this year that it was resurrecting it for a range of electric off-roaders and utes, to rival Rivian.

So far, VW has only confirmed left-hand-drive production for the first Scout model, a pick-up, but if that changes, Mr Davies is keen to offer it in Australia.

“Well, if they built it in right-hand drive we'd be interested. But I don't know that they've determined that yet. It’s certainly an interesting brand, and one that would work well in Australia. But we don't know whether they're going to be running that in right-hand drive,” he said.

Another likely addition to the VW commercial range will be an electrified version of the Amarok. Whether that is a plug-in hybrid or a fully electric version of the Amarok remains to be seen. But an electrified Amarok is not likely to surface for a while yet.