Volkswagen tweaks commercial line-up

VOLKSWAGEN Commercial Vehicles has announced some spec upgrades and price fluctuations for its Australian van and people-mover range following record sales for the German workhorse line-up in the first half of the year.

The German car-maker has also introduced special driveaway ‘Runner’ editions of its Transporter mid-size commercial van and its larger Crafter stablemate that will be available until they are sold out.

In Transporter guise, the Runner is available as a TDI250 short-wheelbase (SWB) manual and it is priced at $32,990 driveaway.

It becomes – for a limited time – the cheapest model in the Transporter line-up, with the regular TDI340 SWB base variant priced at $37,990 plus on-road costs – an increase of $1000 over the 2016 model year version.

Volkswagen Commercial has previously offered the Runner version of the Crafter, but the price has dropped from $41,990 driveaway to $39,990 driveaway for the Crafter 35 TDI300 medium-wheelbase (MWB) manual.

The Crafter 35 TDI340 long-wheelbase (LWB) manual Runner maintains its $46,990 driveaway price.

More driveaway pricing has been introduced, with the Caddy Maxi Trendline TSI220 DSG priced at $34,990, and the Amarok TDI400 4Motion dual-cab ute with a manual gearbox from $38,990, which is a significant saving compared with the regular recommended retail price of $42,990 plus on-road costs.

In terms of additional gear, model year 2017 Multivan people-mover in Highline and Executive grades gains a standard electric opening and closing tailgate.

While the opening price for the Multivan remains at $49,990 plus on-road costs, the Highline variants have crept up by $2500 to $78,990 for the TDI450 with the seven-speed dual-clutch DSG transmission and $82,490 for the all-paw auto TDI450 4Motion.

The entire Volkswagen light-commercial van and people-mover range – encompassing Caddy, Transporter, Caravelle, Multivan and Crafter – also gets enhanced connectivity and an audio upgrade with App Connect, as well as Climatronic air-conditioning with anti-allergen filter.

The Caddy will also be offered with some additional exterior colours for model year 2017, and pricing for the small van range is unchanged.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles director Carlos Santos talked up the wide range of variants on offer across the company’s commercial range and said it was ahead of its rivals when it came to value for money.

“Caddy, Transporter and Crafter have 79 variants between van, crewvan and cab-chassis form,” he said.

“To these, add 10 purely passenger variants across the combined Caddy people-movers, Multivan and Caravelle ranges and you have an extremely diverse range of vehicles that can’t be beaten on value.

“Other brands might offer cheaper white tin entrants, but when you get into the meat of the ranges – the vehicles that people who have to drive them really want – we win both on sticker price and equipment.”

Volkswagen said July was a record month for its T6 range that includes the Transporter, Caravelle and Multivan, with 292 units shifted, up from 210 in July last year. Last month 179 Transporters, 13 Caravelles and 100 Multivans found homes. The new-generation range arrived in Australia in December last year.

Year to date the entire range, including the Amarok pick-up, has clocked up a new record for the brand, with 8502 units sold to the end of July, up from 8272 in the first seven months of 2015.