Volkswagen Commercial reveals turnkey options

The commercial vehicle arm of Volkswagen in Australia has rolled out an expanded range of turnkey solutions for specialist requirements.

Its management team last week revealed six vehicles that have been developed with approved suppliers both here and overseas. Almost all will be sold through Volkswagen dealers and accompanied by a factory five-year warranty.

Some of the conversions shown are already in production, some will soon be launched and some are on trial. They join a limited range of conversions that Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles already offers in Australia.

Also on display was a prototype version of the Amarok W-Series converted by the Walkinshaw Automotive Group in Australia and sent to Germany for testing, evaluation and approval – or a Letter of No Objection, as VW calls it.

As we reported here, the collaboration between Volkswagen and Walkinshaw will continue with performance developments of the next-generation Amarok due on sale here from April next year.

Among the other vehicles on display, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Australia director Ryan Davies highlighted three with great potential – a wheelchair-accessible Caddy Maxi Life, a single-cab Crafter 50 Box Body and a single-cab Crafter 55 with Eutectic cold goods body.

“I think what we have learned is in the past we used to sell the base cars and customers would go and find their own solutions,” he said.

“What we have tapped into is a market where if we can provide what we classify as a high-quality solution that we are delivering a higher-end product to the customer. Then we can back it with our warranty.

“We only really partner with suppliers or partners that are prepared to back their product. Ultimately that means the customer gets a better product and solution at the end of the day.”

Supplier partners highlighted across the vehicles come from Australia, the UK, Germany and Lithuania.

So let’s take a look at the six vehicle on-show.

Built by AMF Bruns GmbH & Co KG Germany, this is the first vehicle of its type to be offered by an original equipment manufacturer in Australia.

Currently undergoing full-volume homologation for the Australian market, it is expected to go on sale in 2023 and will add about $25,000 to the cost of the Caddy Maxi upon which it is based.

The conversion cost will be potentially claimable against the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), but not the price of the base vehicle.

The conversion takes five days and configures the Caddy Maxi as a seven-, six- or five-seater plus wheelchair. Third-row seats fold out of the way when the wheelchair is in use.

The conversion includes a fold-out ramp for access, headrests and backrests for the wheelchair occupant and extra-long wheelchair belts with electric retract. The vehicle has been 20g crash tested on a sled, 10g rear crash tested and torsion tested.

“We are really excited about Caddy because this is the start of us branching out into our mobility solutions for the Australian market,” said Andrew Hester, national conversions manager at Volkswagen Group Australia.

A big brother for the Crafter 35 box van, this conversion is developed by Ingimex in the UK. It is going on sale before Christmas at a price of $79,990 plus on-road costs (excluding optional tail lift).

As per the 35, the kit arrives in CKD from from the UK and is assembled for Volkswagen by PrixCar in Melbourne and Sydney. It may shift to online production in Europe in the future.

Volkswagen sees big potential for this bigger van to take on the established Japanese cab-over players such as Fuso and Isuzu in the sub-4.5 tonne truck market.

Volkswagen claims the body is almost 500kg lighter than any comparable rival, helping deliver a payload of just under 1.75 tonnes.

The Crafter Single Cab 50 comes with a TDI410 turbo-diesel engine, an eight-speed auto, rear-wheel drive with dual tyres and a 4490mm wheelbase. VW expects the vehicle’s strong safety content, including autonomous emergency braking and curtain airbags, will be a strong selling point.

“We’ve also included the suspension seat in it as standard as well as a second battery,” VW Commercial product marketing manager Ben Triebels explained. “We’re pretty excited about this vehicle.

“Overall it will be a bit dearer than the cab-over market but then you do your value chain on it with its extra payload, better warranty, power and torque and the driver assist and ergo systems that the cab-over market doesn’t have.”

Converted by Carlsen Baltic UAB in Lithuania, the thermally-efficient body features a Eutectic Cooling System that does not require engine power to keep the contents cold during transport runs. This means the diesel engine can be switched off at stops, lowering consumption and emissions.

The system is electrically charged before a run commences and uses a brine solution constantly moving through Eutectic plates in the roof of the box to keep the interior cool.

The Crafter Cold Goods vehicle can stay under its target temperature for between nine and 13 hours, depending on how many times the rear doors are opened and closed.

The body on display to media was a -40 degrees Celsius Frozen Goods Truck with a load capacity of just under a tonne.

While it is already homologated for Australia, it is being rotated through various cold goods distributors in Australia for testing. Live data is fed back to Carlsen.

If it does go on sale here, pricing would be around $130,000 plus on-road costs.

“This is a really good solution for the transition to hybrid and electric because the body is independent of the motor,” said Hester.

Developed with Victorian-based caravan and recreational vehicle maker Jayco, all 69 examples in the first run of Crafter Kampervans were sold in just three days. Another batch is due for production in 2023.

Based on the Crafter 35 Long Wheelbase, the Kampervan is 6.8 metres long, 2.0 metres wide and comes with seating for four, sleeping for three, multiple dining and seating areas, a bathroom including toilet and shower, a full kitchen, reverse-cycle air-conditioning, a TV and DVD and even a wifi extender.

All three Kampervan models came with a TDI410 turbo-diesel engine, an eight-speed automatic transmission and 4MOTION all-wheel drive with diff lock. The top-speccer adds All-Terrain off-road capability.

“It is designed to go off-grid,” said Triebels. “We have got two lithium batteries in there at 120 amp hour each. We’ve got a solar panel on the roof and a 1500-Watt inverter so you can run household appliances on it as well.”

“We are looking at what we can do next, how can we expand what we are doing with the campervan series. It’s an exciting partnership and it’s been great to add to our campervan portfolio.”

Converted by Ingimex in the UK, the tipper is in the early stages of evaluation in Australia.

As presented it has a load capacity of just under a tonne, but the local preference is for the conversion to be mated with a Crafter 50 or 55, which would grow capacity to just under 2.0 tonnes.

“For this to go on a Crafter 50 or 55 we need a bigger hydraulic ram,” explained Hester.

“We can’t say what the price would be if we decide to go ahead but it would be competitive.”

This polycarbonate bull bar has been developed by Smartbar ARB in Lonsdale, South Australia for the Volkswagen Crafter as a result of requests from local emergency services.

To be used in first-response fleets, its hollow polyethylene design provides the ability to flex and absorb on impact and then return to shape following a small collision.

It is compatible with onboard safety and drive assist systems and is the first local product to come with a Letter of No Objection from Volkswagen’s German R&D team.

Weighting in at 53kg, it also comes with accessory brackets for driving lights and aerials and emergency service fitments like sirens.

The bar is on sale now through ARB dealers, adds $3658 to the price of a Crafter 35 MWB and comes with a five-year warranty. It could become a VW dealer offer in the future.

“It meets all the Australian design rules and is available across the range – so Crafter 50, Crafter 55 and 4MOTION,” confirmed Triebels.

Join the conversation at 

our Facebook page

Or email us at 

editor@carsales.com.au