VW announces new Crafter range
Volkswagen has announced the release of its new Crafter van range, the first of which will be available in New Zealand from October this year. VW will start by releasing the 3-3.5 tonne GVM front wheel drive model with manual transmission, with 2 additional drive trains, auto transmission and GVM rating becoming available in late 2017 to early 2018. When all models become available the van will be available in front, rear and all-wheel drive, and will be available with an 8-speed automatic gear box. It will be available with a cab chassis and in a panel van variant, that VW says is intended to target a wide range of consumers. The van will come with updated safety systems including a front, side and head airbag for the driver and front passenger, a reversing camera, road warning systems and sensor based side protection that VW have developed specifically for this model. The van also has an automatic braking system that kicks in should the vehicle be involved in an accident. Eckhard Scholz of Volkswagen says that the van was developed from the customer’s perspective. “The new Crafter represents a fusion of product focus and customer focus,” he said. The van will come with several add on features that make it suitable for a wide range of applications, including a hydraulic tipper deck conversion, aluminium tool boxes and a “luxury” passenger bus package that will be fitted in New Zealand. The panel van model will be available in a long and medium wheel base model at 5.9 and 6.8 meters long respectively. The cab chassis model will be available in a single cab and double cab model, also in a long and medium wheelbase variant with between 5.5 and 4.3 m2 of deck space. For the month of July, the top selling vehicles in New Zealand were all light commercials, and it appears that VW is trying to access this increasingly lucrative market. Light commercials also showed strong growth in the Australian market for the month of July.
