Volkswagen has filed a trademark application with the European intellectual property office for the name “e-Samba.” The trademark suggests that VW has found a name for the production version of the ID.Buzz.
The company has promised to introduce a production version of the Buzz by 2022 but in February, VWoA’s COO Johan de Nysschen told reporters that “there is no formal name yet” for the Buzz.
This is by no means confirmation, but the name does harken back to microbus history. The Samba was the name coined for the highest trim level of the original Type 1 bus. Also known here as the 21- or 23-window depending on the vintage, the Samba differentiated itself from the rest of the range with its wealth of fenestration and two-tone paint.
The name also follows the naming convention that Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles started when it produced its own electric version of a Samba back in March. Known as the e-Bulli (Germans called microbuses Bullis for some reason), the 1966 Type 1 bus featured VW’s EV conversion kit for classic cars.
The name e-Samba notably doesn’t follow the naming convention started by the ID.3. The hatchback will be followed by a production version of the ID.4. The assumption is that future EVs will also follow that naming convention since VW has trademarked ID.1 through ID.9.
Although the e-Samba would be a break from that convention, the Buzz is the only retro vehicle in the ID lineup, making it an outlier anyway. The rest of the ID concepts revealed so far follow their own, ID-specific design language.
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