• After skipping the current model year, the ID. Buzz will join Volkswagen’s model year 2027 lineup. 
• It now gets a new dedicated trim for camping, with a bunch of cool features straight from the factory.
• Volkswagen has finally added true one-pedal driving to the ID. Buzz 

The Volkswagen ID. Buzz will rejoin the German automaker’s model year 2027 lineup in the U.S. with two new trims, updated software, and revised color and wheel options. 

The electric minivan skipped MY2026 for the U.S. market, going from MY2025 to MY2027 due to low demand. Volkswagen Group of America CEO Kjell Gruner told InsideEVs at the New York Auto Show this year that the MY2025 had arrived late, so the MY2026 cars would have had a short run anyway.

Photo by: Volkswagen

Camping fans can now rejoice as Volkswagen is now bringing the Tourer 4Motion trim stateside. This model will get a bunch of features straight out of the factory, including a fold-out mattress and a platform, along with window blinds and ventilation panels. 

There’s also an “Overnight Mode” which will use the high-voltage battery to run functions like climate and the battery even when the vehicle itself is switched off. It will also come with a folding table and chair set.

Photo by: Volkswagen

Another important addition is one-pedal driving, which will allow drivers to bring the vehicle to a complete stop using regenerative braking and without touching the brake pedal. MY2025 vehicles did not have true one-pedal driving, which was a big miss.

The ID. Buzz now also gets the automaker’s latest ID.S 6 software with improved user experience on the infotainment, including a revised navigation screen layout and a new vehicle settings page for easier access to functions. There’s also an updated App Store that will allow owners to download third-party apps like YouTube and Spotify.

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Source: Kevin Williams/InsideEVs

There’s one more change that makes a lot of sense. The dual-tone paint is a huge part of the minivan’s personality, and now you can’t have the ID. Buzz otherwise. The ID. Buzz will now only come with dual-tone paint schemes, along with a new Candy White over Cherry Red paint option and available white wheels inspired by the Type 2 microbus.

Finally, the trim line has been revised to just four models: Pro S RWD, Pro S 4Motion (new), Tourer 4Motion (new), and Pro S Plus 4Motion.

Volkswagen hasn’t released pricing just yet, but the MY2025 ID. Buzz starts at $60,000 before destination charges. If the automaker brings the price within the low $50,000 range, it could go a long way in making the iconic vehicle more appealing.

Contact the author: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com

NISSAN has announced the Heritage Edition version of its Z front-engined, rear-wheel drive sportscar for Australia, limited to a run of just 10 units, each finished in Midnight Purple.

Priced at $77,410 plus on-road costs, the Heritage Edition sits in Nissan’s Z range between the entry-level model ($76,160 + ORCs) and the range-topping Nismo model ($94,065 + ORCs including premium paint).

The Heritage Edition celebrates the seven generations of Nissan’s Z line of sports cars, which kicked off with the Datsun 240Z launched in 1969, with right-hand drive deliveries commencing the following year.

The current Nissan Z – the latest member of the family – launched in Australia in 2022.

Midnight Purple also holds special significance as a colour option in Nissan’s sports car history, with the colour option first introduced in 1995 for the R33-series Nissan Skyline GT-R.

In 1999, an updated version of the colour returned to Nissan’s palette as Midnight Purple II, this time available for the R34 Skyline GT-R, and was later succeeded by Midnight Purple III.

In 2013, Nissan unveiled a special edition of the R35 GT-R painted in Midnight Opal, a nod to its purple Godzilla forefathers, with 100 examples sold worldwide. Midnight Purple later made its return on the R35 for the swansong T-Spec variant in 2021.

The Z Heritage Edition’s Midnight Purple paint will be paired with bronze 19-inch Rays alloy wheels.

Midnight Purple is not the only iconic colour to make a recent comeback on the Nissan Z.

In July last year, Bayside Blue – another colour choice entrenched in the history of the GT-R nameplate – became available for the non-Nismo Z model.

For the Heritage Edition, power and torque figures from the 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 remain unchanged at 298kW and 475Nm, with the Heritage Edition available with either a six-speed manual transmission or a nine-speed automatic with paddle shifters.

Like the regular Z, it also benefits from a mechanical limited slip differential and launch control.

Inside you will find a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, an 8.0-inch infotainment touchscreen, heated, leather-accented seats, active noise cancellation and sound enhancement.

It also retains the Z’s host of ADAS features including intelligent cruise control, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, blind spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert, and lane departure warning.

The reveal of the Heritage Edition comes ahead of the arrival of the 2026-spec Nissan Z, expected on Australian shores later this year (although full pricing and specifications remain unconfirmed).

2026 Nissan Z pricing*:

*Pricing excludes on-road costs.

Launching a new model name costs many millions of dollars, which is why automakers often bring back old names or radically alter the vehicles sold under an existing name.

That explains why Toyota’s new two-seat sport coupe is called Supra, reviving a name last used in 1998.

The new 2020 Toyota Supra has an inline-6 engine, just like the old one, though the new car doesn’t have even a vestigial rear seat.

Launched Monday at the 2019 North American International Auto Show, the 2020 Supra was inspired by the FT-1 concept developed by Toyota’s advanced design studio in California. It goes on sale in the summer and costs $50,920 for base models, or $56,180 for a launch edition coupe.

NEXT: Read our 2020 Toyota Supra preview

The styling is a mix of Toyota’s latest design language and a few cues from the Supras of the previous century, including the long-hood, short-deck proportions that indicate a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive sports car.

Its 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-6 is rated at 335 horsepower and 365 pound-feet of torque. It powers the rear wheels through an 8-speed automatic transmission and an active rear differential.

Toyota quotes a 0-to-60-mph acceleration time of 4.1 seconds, just a hair slower than the 3.9 seconds quoted for the larger LC F Track Edition performance coupe it also launched at the Detroit show.

The new Supra marks Toyota’s return to the specialized world of two-seat coupes, a category now occupied only by Toyota’s own 86 coupe and its Subaru BRZ twin and the very rare Jaguar F-Type coupe.

2020 Toyota Supra

Above that, two-seat sports models are much pricier mid-engine cars from prestige brands like Porsche and Acura.

That means annual sales of the new Supra seem likely to number in the thousands rather than the tens of thousands, making it a very specialized vehicle indeed within Toyota’s high-volume lineup.

The secret is that underneath, the 2020 Supra shares much of its underpinnings—as well as its assembly line in Austria—with the latest BMW Z4 two-seat convertible sports car.

There’s not likely to be a convertible Supra, Toyota executives said at a media preview Sunday night, nor does BMW seem likely to do a Z4 coupe, so the two cars each occupy distinct niches.

And the BMW bits underneath likely won’t matter to buyers seeking either another Supra to replace their aging original, or those eager to have a rare and sexy-looking sport coupe that’s more luxurious than the stripped-down Toyota 86.

The new 2020 Toyota Supra will go on sale this summer, with a pair of trim levels—3.0 and 3.0 Premium—as well as a Launch Edition with extra equipment on top of the Premium trim.

For more from the 2019 Detroit auto show, head over to our dedicated hub.

Toyota provided airfare, lodging, and meals to enable Internet Brands Automotive to cover its various announcements at the 2019 Detroit auto show.