If you say Volkswagen van to someone, chances are, they’d still imagine the classic Kombi. After all, it stayed in production for such a long time, only being discontinued in 2013.
Of course, there will also be those who remember the Caravelle that was sold locally in the late-‘90s to early-‘00s. More recently, the Multivan Kombi was briefly offered until 2021.
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Now, there’s an all-new VW van, and as always, it comes in various names and guises. You can call it the Volkswagen Caravelle, the Transporter, the Multivan, or the Kombi. Either way, they’re all derived from one basic model. For all intents and purposes, we’ll call it Caravelle from this point onwards.
More interestingly, the all-new van is actually based on a Ford. The redesigned Caravelle and its derivatives utilize the same chassis used in the Ford Transit. Mind you, this isn’t the first Ford-VW collaboration for commercial vehicles. Don’t forget that the current versions of the Ford Ranger and VW Amarok share the same platform.
The Volkswagen Caravelle range is focused more on carrying passengers, while the Transporter series has a more utilitarian purpose. The prior is available in seven or nine-seater configurations, while rear seats can be added to the latter.
Extended wheelbase models are also on offer, for both Caravelle and Transporter. For those who need a little more traction, there is even an all-wheel drive model called the PanAmericana that features VW’s 4Motion technology. Again, these can be specified to both versions of the van.
Moving to powertrains, the Caravelle and Transporter has turbodiesel, plug-in hybrid, or full electric options. The 2.0-liter TDI comes in three tunes, one with 108hp,148hp, and 168hp. Opt for the plug-in hybrid and power rises to 229hp.
Lastly, the electric models put out 134hp, 159hp, or 282 hp, depending on the variant chosen. All electric Caravelle and Transporter models use a 64 kWh battery pack.
