Ford Maverick Based Van Still Happening, Production Set For 2028

[Sherminator98]

1 hour ago, rmc523 said:

 

Transit Custom isn't VW based, that's Transit Connect.

 

 

Ford makes Transit Custom and VW rebadges it as the Transporter.

VW makes the Caddy, which Ford rebadges as Transit Connect.

 

Crap I miss read the rebadge on the wikipage thought it said it was a VW rebadge. 

[DeluxeStang]

1 hour ago, BenKohnen said:

The more I think about it, the more it does make sense to do a small van - ESPECIALLY a small commercial/cargo van - as a cab-forward EV. The rear floor can be lower. The nose can be shorter. The cargo area can be larger and more useful. And if they can put it out as a $35k vehicle with 200-ish miles of range with a load, that's a home run for what it's for.

 

This was my first look at the mentioned VW ID.Buzz at the 2024 Chicago Auto Show. I thought it was a great mix of modern and retro. In the background is the very first Type 1 "Beetle" imported to the US in 1949. Oddly, as chatty as the VW folks were, they really didn't want to talk about the 1940's. 🙃

Exactly, plus it would be multi purposed. A Ford van with styling very similar to this would appeal to commercial buyers for the reasons we mentioned. But it's also a much cooler looking van than any other van currently on sale, I actually saw one today with a burnt orange and white paint job and it's basically the only time I've seen a van and thought, damn that looks cool. 

 

So something in that style would appeal to normal consumers and van life types as well who were drawn to the idea of a stylish, cool looking mini van beyond commerical buyers. 

[BenKohnen]

Funny you should mention the orange/white... it really is a pretty cool look. Again, retro with the right amount of current. I'd like to think on a Ford version, just a little more nose. Give it a little frunk for charging cords and such.

Things like this are exactly why I go to the car show every year. Plus, getting to see some of the early release, pre-production, and new color things. I tend to wear my dealership shirts when I go, it's amusing to get mistaken for show staff in the Ford sections. Drives my wife a little nuts because I get drawn into conversations about the cars with random folks, then have to disclose that I work at a store in another state and I'm not actually "on duty". :)

[rmc523]

3 hours ago, DeluxeStang said:

Exactly, plus it would be multi purposed. A Ford van with styling very similar to this would appeal to commercial buyers for the reasons we mentioned. But it's also a much cooler looking van than any other van currently on sale, I actually saw one today with a burnt orange and white paint job and it's basically the only time I've seen a van and thought, damn that looks cool. 

 

So something in that style would appeal to normal consumers and van life types as well who were drawn to the idea of a stylish, cool looking mini van beyond commerical buyers. 

 

It's so cool that they had to pause production for a year because they had too much inventory lol.

 

I get your point about the form factor maximizing cargo space, but I don't know if "cool" is how I'd describe the ID.BUZZ....

[morgan20]

8 hours ago, rmc523 said:

I don't know if "cool" is how I'd describe the ID.BUZZ....

 

It's cool to see, drive, and ride in (which I did at the '25 Chicago Auto Show):

 

Then when the asking price is shown (including "market adjustment" shenanigans from dealers), you're left feelin' cold:

 

 

Edited Thursday at 04:01 AM by morgan20

[Sherminator98]

I finally saw one, in front of a VW dealership lol

 

 

[DeluxeStang]

8 hours ago, rmc523 said:

 

It's so cool that they had to pause production for a year because they had too much inventory lol.

 

I get your point about the form factor maximizing cargo space, but I don't know if "cool" is how I'd describe the ID.BUZZ....

Because it starts at 60k my dude. It's a really neat product, it's just not 60, 70, 80 grand neat. I'm just saying a stylish van in that style that had both passenger and cargo van configurations at 35k instead of 70 would be compelling to a decent number of people. 

[Sherminator98]

7 hours ago, DeluxeStang said:

Because it starts at 60k my dude. It's a really neat product, it's just not 60, 70, 80 grand neat. I'm just saying a stylish van in that style that had both passenger and cargo van configurations at 35k instead of 70 would be compelling to a decent number of people. 

 

I was talking to my wife about the Buzz...I said to her I don't understand the appeal of it..the people who had them back in the 1960/70 are now so old that they either can't drive or don't want to spend that type of money on a vehicle like that. Its "cool" looking but my generation has no emotional attachment to it like the Baby Boomers would 

[Taurus SHO]

34 minutes ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

I was talking to my wife about the Buzz...I said to her I don't understand the appeal of it..the people who had them back in the 1960/70 are now so old that they either can't drive or don't want to spend that type of money on a vehicle like that. Its "cool" looking but my generation has no emotional attachment to it like the Baby Boomers would 

My millennial wife loves it.  We were just at Cincinnati's car show a couple weeks ago and it was one of the top two "busiest" vehicles there.  Other one being the Navigator.  There were constantly people around it.  The price unfortunately turns off about 95% of potential buyers.

[rmc523]

10 hours ago, DeluxeStang said:

Because it starts at 60k my dude. It's a really neat product, it's just not 60, 70, 80 grand neat. I'm just saying a stylish van in that style that had both passenger and cargo van configurations at 35k instead of 70 would be compelling to a decent number of people. 

 

I guess we have different definitions of stylish.  Is it better than the original bus?  Sure.  But I've never understood the appeal of those things......a modern revamp stirs the same feelings - doesn't appeal to me at all.

[ANTAUS]

My county uses it as a bus, well our public transportation system… sort of like a glorified Uber. So if its selling well, its being bought by Freebie, which is who they contracted with. 

[DeluxeStang]

2 hours ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

I was talking to my wife about the Buzz...I said to her I don't understand the appeal of it..the people who had them back in the 1960/70 are now so old that they either can't drive or don't want to spend that type of money on a vehicle like that. Its "cool" looking but my generation has no emotional attachment to it like the Baby Boomers would 

I'll provide my perspective on it as a younger millennial, about a year later and I'd be gen z. I just find 60s designs to be really timeless and charming. It's hands down my favorite era of car design, and one I want to see car brands keep pulling from if they're gonna keep doing retro designs. 

 

At a time when everything looks pretty much the exact same, seeing something bold, but also kinda effortless, and it has fun colors on top of it, there's something endearing about that to me personally. I especially appreciate it when car brands try something unique in segments where most brands half ass it, and that certainly applies to mini vans. 

 

Design is subjective, everyone has their own things they like. For me, my style is a design that's unique, eye catching, but it's not trying too hard with 1,000 different design elements. Basically clean, but unique. 

Edited Thursday at 02:22 PM by DeluxeStang

[DeluxeStang]

15 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

 

I guess we have different definitions of stylish.  Is it better than the original bus?  Sure.  But I've never understood the appeal of those things......a modern revamp stirs the same feelings - doesn't appeal to me at all.

Fair enough, I should add I judge a design in context to it's vehicle type. By that, if I'm trying to determine if a truck design is attractive, I'll judge it in the scope of truck design overall. It's the same here. 

 

Throughout history, most vans range from hideous to incredibly generic. Imo the VW buzz isn't generic, I notice them everytime I see one. I don't find it particularly ugly either, which is saying something because I HATE most cab forward designs. 

[rmc523]

17 minutes ago, DeluxeStang said:

Fair enough, I should add I judge a design in context to it's vehicle type. By that, if I'm trying to determine if a truck design is attractive, I'll judge it in the scope of truck design overall. It's the same here. 

 

Throughout history, most vans range from hideous to incredibly generic. Imo the VW buzz isn't generic, I notice them everytime I see one. I don't find it particularly ugly either, which is saying something because I HATE most cab forward designs. 

 

I guess it's not bad looking for what it's trying to be.

 

I will never understand why they did the "porthole" window on the sliders instead of making them an actual roll down full size window.

[Sherminator98]

2 hours ago, rmc523 said:

I will never understand why they did the "porthole" window on the sliders instead of making them an actual roll down full size window.

 

I'm gonna assume it has to do something with side crash impact standards. 

[rmc523]

53 minutes ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

I'm gonna assume it has to do something with side crash impact standards. 

 

All the other minivans put a real window in their doors though.

[bzcat]

On 4/9/2026 at 9:43 AM, Sherminator98 said:

 

I'm gonna assume it has to do something with side crash impact standards. 

 

The porthole window is product design decision. Buzz was envisioned as a cargo van too so VW wanted thin interior panels to maximize interior volume. Normal roll down windows will intrude into the interior and also make the sliding door more heavy to operate. Remember, Buzz is a product of VW Commercial, not VW Cars. Technically, it replaced the T6 Transporter and T6 Caravelle vans (Buzz is made in the VWC Hannover plant where T6 vans were made). 

 

 

 

 

Edited Friday at 06:05 PM by bzcat

[rmc523]

2 minutes ago, bzcat said:

 

The porthole window is product design. Buzz was envisioned as a cargo van too so VW wanted thin interior panels to maximize interior volume. Normal roll down windows will intrude into the interior and also make the sliding door more heavy to operate. Remember, Buzz is a product of VW Commercial, not VW Cars. Technically, it replaced the Transporter and Caravelle vans (Buzz is made in the VWC Hannover plant where T6 vans were made). 

 

Except they still have the Transporter and Caravelle vans - Ford produces them for VW now....

Edited Friday at 06:01 PM by rmc523

[bzcat]

11 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

 

Except they still have the Transporter and Caravelle vans - Ford produces them for VW now....

 

Correct, but that decision came later when Ford approached VW with the rebadge in exchange for MEB. The original VW Commercial plan was to replace T6 Transporter and Caravelle with Buzz. The high end Multivan and California moved over to MQB passenger car platform. 

 

Transporter T6 --> ID Buzz Cargo / rebadged Transit Custom

Caravelle T6 --> ID Buzz / rebadged Tourneo Custom

Multivan T6 --> Multivan T7

California T6 --> California T7

Edited Friday at 06:12 PM by bzcat

[rmc523]

On 4/10/2026 at 1:58 PM, bzcat said:

 

The porthole window is product design decision. Buzz was envisioned as a cargo van too so VW wanted thin interior panels to maximize interior volume. Normal roll down windows will intrude into the interior and also make the sliding door more heavy to operate. Remember, Buzz is a product of VW Commercial, not VW Cars. Technically, it replaced the T6 Transporter and T6 Caravelle vans (Buzz is made in the VWC Hannover plant where T6 vans were made). 

 

 

 

 

 

Except in that photo, they put an insert/solid panel for the window and remove the door trim (and would delete window hardware etc), meaning none of that would affect offering a normal window anyway.

Shrug.....I just think it's an odd product choice in today's world.