Racing drivers and racing cars get all the glory, but there’s a whole team of people and vehicles at play to help race weekends be a success. From mechanics to strategists to transporters to support vehicles, everything behind the scenes can directly affect success on the track. Thankfully, not all of these relatively unsung heroes are forgotten. Porsche Netherlands has made brand new takes on the legendary Renndienst racing support vans, but not for their original purpose.
Back in the days when driver safety was an afterthought and computers weren’t exactly portable, racing teams needed far, far fewer things to get through a race weekend. As such, Porsche was able to use Volkswagen’s humble Type 2 bus to support its racing efforts. Load up with tools and spare parts, arrive to the track, race all weekend, camp in the van, then pack up and go home. Sounds a bit like a typical LeMons weekend these days, right? Anyway, these support vans were called Renndienst vans, German for racing service, and traveled with Porsche’s racing efforts from 1954 until well into the 1970s.
While the concept of humble vans supporting race teams hasn’t gone away (which is why you should think twice about buying a former rental minivan that saw service in the Southeast), major racing teams now carry tools and parts in great big rigs as professional motorsport has grown more complex. However, that hasn’t stopped Porsche from getting all nostalgic. Back in 2020, Porsche revealed the Vision Renndienst concept that looked a bit like a very long helmet. This cab-forward van featured some very Porsche wheels and lighting, but never progressed from the design concept phase. It makes sense; how many people would actually buy a Porsche van?
Just three years later, and the launch of the Volkswagen ID.Buzz gave Porsche’s Dutch arm an opportunity. Here was a reborn version of the Volkswagen bus used as the original Renndienst;why not smarten it up a bit through the rosy tint of nostalgia? Bathed in the same Burgundy Red as the originals and decked out with Porsche livery and black accents, the reborn Renndienst vans certainly look the part. They’re relatively simple tributes as far as things go, but still rather effective. Other than some simple cosmetic tweaks, they’re identical to other ID.Buzz passenger van examples, so they should be sensible vehicles to run about in.
Indeed, that’s Porsche Netherlands’ plan – after showroom exhibition, the reborn Renndienst vans will be used as dealership shuttles and promotional vehicles. It’s not exactly the most glamorous use case, but a dose of Porsche heritage is sure to perk up anyone who doesn’t want a loaner car.
(Photo credits: Porsche Netherlands, Porsche)
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The constructor is weird but cool
Cool stickers, bro.
The least they could have done is replace the VW logos in the wheel centers with Porsche logos and remove the front/rear VW badges and replace them with smaller Porsche badges.
It’s the simple things that go a long way, man.
The original Renndienst vans retained their VW logos. So those simple things wouldn’t be very true to form.
Wow, wheels look cool and retro – fitting the rest of the Renndienst theme – when moving. But standing still they just look like something Adian Clarke just drew 🙂
(Yes I love those kind of details, that why I love my Figaro and my 356)
Seeing that it’s a Dutch registered vehicle, and plates are visible in the marketing photos. A quick check on RDW… a ID. BUZZ PRO 150 KW, first registered 23 jan ’23 and licensed 22 Feb. Was delivered in Grey, options code N3000DNA1AE55, fiscal value of €75.840,00. Has not been stolen.
You know what would be cool for a RETRO vehicle? An actual all metal vehicle with little accessories like 42 inch flat screen in the dash and 2000 way seats…
Chrome STEEL crash bumpers…
Acceptable crumple zones, behind cool fenders… A steel radiator support. Air bags that deploy without hitting a parking curb at 3mph at the mall or tear apart the interior coming out.
Simple electronics, no 350 view…. Just use your actual eyes, actual ROLL down windows that you control…
Simple blue tooth radio with KNOB’S.
And styling NOT reminiscent off an EGG.
Just have AC..lol.
And main propulsion is ICE with electric option for all you Gretta’s
Wish in one hand, shit in the other.
See which one fills up first.
Meh, VW missed the mark on styling here. This front fascia breaks the connection with the original completely, looks just like an updated Eurovan.
However, I’m sure that this acid comment will make then repent and change their ways. Fingers crossed!
BTW, I think this was supposed to be a reply to someone else’s comment, instead of me spontaneously dissing the design. I stand by the opinion, just wish it wasn’t in the main thread 🙂
I think it ties together with the the history of Ben Pon, the Type 2 and Dutch Porsche racing. Not bad for a paint job.
This is, in fact, good parsh.
…but it would be better parsh with a Taycan drivetrain swap. Mwahahaha.
Also, needs moar puffalumps!
YES
Honestly I think the ID Buzz looks much better in a single color as opposed to a two tone paint job.
Those subaru sambar VW van lookalikes look more like an old air cooled van than this thing, there’s so much crud in front of the wheels that it’s more Eurovan than Bus
Every time I see the buzz with a 2 tone paint job I’m reminded of how far from the old air cooled busses it is.
It’s expensive, liquid cooled (when air cooling would work great!), Heavy, has low ground clearance, low profile tires, basically no off road ability, is complex and tech reliant (even for BEVs), etc.
If the Old air cooled VWs are Christ then the ID Buzz is the Antichrist.
And don’t forget the horrible A pillars creating massive blind spots and how the very long nose (when compared to an old air cooled van) obscures forward vision more than necessary.
To clarify for all the people who read “air cooled batteries” and robotically think Nissan Leaf I’m referring to ACTIVELY air cooled batteries just like the actively air cooled engines of the old VW busses
You do *not* want air cooled EV batteries… It’s why the Leaf has so many issues with rapid charging. The battery gets hot, can’t cool itself actively, and so charging speed is heavily throttled and even then, the batteries don’t last. There’s a reason nobody’s doing air cooled any more.
Not sure about why you think a family people mover needs great ground clearance or off road ability either. I agree with the nose shape from an aesthetic point of view, but it would be very difficult (impossible?) to pass modern safety tests with a more upright front end like the original.
You’re conflating passively air cooling (which has always been bad) and active air cooling. I’m advocating for ACTIVELY air cooled batteries.
Because not every road is paved and scraping the underside of a car that has a juicy underside full of spicy magic containers and spicy magic conductive cooling liquid isn’t a particularly good idea.
If Smart can do it with the Smart Car the giant that is VW can do it with the Buzz.
It’s still less effective. The Smart is a way of mashing batteries into an existing ICE car. There’s a reason why every EV manufacturer has moved away from air cooling.
And yes, not every road is paved- but the ID.Buzz is a family people hauler. It’s for on-road use. Same reason you don’t take a Corolla up a trail in Moab. And you realise there’s a lot of thick plating over the bottom of the batteries too, right? I’d wager you’re more likely to damage a conventional car’s fuel tank than the battery on an EV.
I was referring to the very short nose the Smart Car has while still passing crash testing, not the batteries.
My fear is people who had an old air cooled VW will treat the Buzz like one and severely damage it.
Also Ground clearance is very useful in the snow.
Oh, right- the Smart’s not done *brilliantly* in crash tests though, and also has a lot less mass to dissipate the energy from. There’s also the aero aspect- the more raked design of the ID.Buzz will have cut its drag by quite a lot, which is very important in EVs.
I think people treating any modern car (and that’s what this is- it’s a *car*, not a truck) like that will damage it, EV or not. This is a car that is designed to leverage its looks to get people out of their crossovers, not for someone to go overlanding. It’s a minivan, just with more interesting looks than most minivans.
I agree with ground clearance being useful in the snow, but, again, it’s a car. There’s not much ground clearance under most minivans or crossovers, either.
It’s all horses for courses.
You haven’t watched the Second Gen Smart car vs full size Mercedes head on test vid then have you? It did extremely well.
Aero at the back matters a lot more than aero at the front. The optimal aerodynamic shape is a teardrop
Perhaps, but it shouldn’t be that way, especially for BEVs which should inherently have much more simple and durable drivetrains than their ICE counterparts.
Subarus has several models with a a ton of ground clearance.
I just wanna know who the marketing dweeb was that thought the headlight signature needed to mimic modern VWs instead of the classic bus. Ruins the whole thing for me.
Agreed. My single biggest issue is this. The only place I can avoid that face is inside one of them, and even then, I’m not safe from other drivers.
Why, VW, why? You almost had it, and took you 20 years to ruin the thing!
“how many people would actually buy a Porsche van?”
Me! I would buy that Porsche van. Does it come in blue? Or maybe a nice BRG?
thats a VW with the word ‘Porsche’ painted on it. I can do that all on my own.
This is a VW van made as a homage to a much earlier VW van. Nobody’s saying it’s a Porsche.
The cachet is the factory doing it.
He is talking about the earlier concept car (“looks like a long helmet”), and he is not alone. I would buy one, if it was not priced into the stratosphere.
But… being a Porsche… it _would_ be priced into the stratosphere.
Even the ID Buzz is priced into the stratosphere if the rumored U.S. prices are correct… so an actual Porsche van? Ouch.
That’s not to say I wouldn’t want it.
Fine, label it a VW.
I think it’d sell out even with the obligatory Porsche Premium Pricing™ markup. But I’m no brand snob and if it came out looking like that but with a massive People’s Car logo on the hood for less, even better.
The ID Buzz better have those updated dog-dish wheels they offered for the Beetle for a while as an option. Only thing that would have made this better.
That would actually be very poetic because Porsche also used those wheels on the 356, 914, and a few other cars!