The Bulli offers material for stories from all ages. He was a workhorse in the economic miracle, a hippie mobile, a vacation companion and a family carriage. Now the VW bus is 70. The future is electric here too - some uncertainties included.
Hanover (dpa) - What is the Bulli? A rolling living room, a pack donkey, a vacation vehicle. Club vehicle, company car, family van. Hardly a car has taken on so many roles over the decades.
70 years ago, Volkswagen produced the first examples of the box-shaped model that some see in a league with the legendary Beetle. And in contrast to this, the VW bus will soon be retreaded. There is a lot at stake.
Versatile use
On March 8, 1950, the tapes for the then T1 started at the main plant in Wolfsburg. Since then the Bulli has had an eventful history. While in the young Federal Republic his function as a workhorse and handicraft vehicle was the focus in the economic miracle years, the hippies swore by him in the 1960s and 1970s as a flower power car.
Today, the model is used as a large saloon as well as a mini caravan, reputable company car or shared taxi from the VW mobility service Moia. Special expenditures are on the way for the Bundeswehr, fire brigade, police and emergency services. One or the other football team or rock band has also ordered their own T6.
High popularity
If one adds up the sold buses of all generations, the market coverage becomes clear: According to its own information, VW has so far sold over 13 million units worldwide. The regional focus abroad was the USA, about every third Bulli of the T2 generation (1967 to 1979) from German production was exported to the United States. Demand is also high on the classic car market.
"Every child knows the Bulli," says Stefan Reindl. It is not just about nostalgia and sometimes transfiguration, says the director of the Institute for the Automotive Industry in Nürtingen. The car is an important strategic factor for Volkswagen: "It was a role model for almost all competitive vehicles in the minibus segment - for the group, it is the bread and butter of commercial vehicles." The "wealth of derivatives" such as cargo transporters, platform trucks or campers does not bring huge sales to the company. But competitors have copied such custom-made products from the Germans.
Bulli as an E variant
VW offered the Bulli early in the USA, where it became a fun vehicle for youth culture from Woodstock to San Francisco. However, it was not made there. For the next generation, which also comes with an electric motor, the group has so far only confirmed Hanover as a production location.
ID.Buzz is the name of the new E variant. After the compact car ID.3 and the SUV ID.Crozz, it should become one of the next branches of the all-electric vehicle family. The Hanover location - like Zwickau and Emden as well as parts of the US plant in Chattanooga and factories in China - will be converted for the production of electric vehicles.
The 2022 Electric Bulli is to start. It is part of the strategy with which the world's largest car group will invest around 33 billion euros in e-mobility by 2024. CEO Herbert Diess called the ID.Buzz an "important pillar in the electrical offensive".
Recently negative headlines too
On the other hand, one wants to strip off the less beautiful sides of the past - which is only possible to a limited extent. It was only in January that Volkswagen had to recall 29,400 T5 and T6 diesels in tests due to excessive emissions. With the internal supplier Sitech there is trouble about an order for seats that is on the brink. The company is also very keen to maintain full control over the design: it recently wanted to prohibit a small model maker from selling T1 replicas. It was only when the Düsseldorf Regional Court expressed doubts about the maneuver that the company withdrew its lawsuit.
But the VW bus could also become even more important beyond its own company: The commercial vehicle subsidiary VWN is cooperating with the US manufacturer Ford. "I assume that this will be the e-kit for the van not only for the group's own brands, but also for others Make it available to manufacturers, "believes Reindl. What are meant are the same assemblies that save costs and create standards.
Both companies want to join forces in electric and robot cars. In an alliance, VW has billions in Ford's subsidiary Argo AI. In return, the Americans want to manufacture hundreds of thousands of vehicles based on the VW E modular system. "The van market is very competitive," explains Reindl. French and Japanese also got involved. He estimates: "The cooperation with Ford is likely to be significantly more fruitful than the previous one with Daimler for the Sprinter and Crafter transporters."
Autonomous driving should come
A cargo version is also planned for the electric bus, which can be used as a delivery van. It is also used in projects for autonomous driving: 35 self-driving e-shuttles are to be on the road in Qatar's capital Doha at the World Cup at the end of 2022.
It remains to be seen whether e-mobility will ignite. Approvals have recently picked up, but the absolute level is low compared to combustion engines. VW had already experimented with an electric version of the T2 at the end of the 1970s. Now it comes down to it. "The ID.3 aspires to become the new Golf," Reindl describes the scope. "You have to look at the ID.Buzz for the Bulli in a similar way."
