Multivan - From standard van to talented all-rounder

April 13, 2021 by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles

• Unveiled in 1985, the Multivan developed over four generations into an icon of its genre

•Continuation of this successful formula announced

•2021 sees the launch of the best Multivan ever

A recipe for success – take the best van of its time and add the comfort of a car and unprecedented variability in the interior. The result: the Multivan. Still an icon of its genre. A cult vehicle for generations. Unique Bulli DNA. Even a completely new Multivan will remain true to this DNA. And that's precisely the plan: later this year, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles will be taking the Multivan and the associated lifestyle feeling into the next automotive era.

Its incomparable DNA has made the Multivan one of the most successful and best-known vans/MPVs ever. An automotive multi-tool for the family, business, sport, holidays and every travel adventure. To date, there are four generations of the Multivan. They are all based on the Transporter – the T3, T4, T5 and T6. In 2019, there was then also an update of the current generation: the Multivan 6.1.

In September 1985, at the IAA International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Volkswagen unveiled a new version of the T3: the first Multivan. Now, alongside the Transporter and Caravelle, there was thus an unprecedented crossover of panel van, passenger car, MPV and camper – comfortable ride met multi-variable interior concept: with a rear bench seat that could be converted into a bed. And the original model also already had a fold-out table. Both features quickly transformed the van, when required, into a compact camper for minimalists.

Cleverly conceived like an automotive tool, the van delivered the design DNA for all of this and added to that a charismatic look as well. Form followed function: a mobile space with a short rear overhang and steep windscreen. Inside, the driver and front-seat passenger sat directly above the front axle and experienced there, high above the world of the passenger car, the driving feel so typical of the Bulli, which soon gained cult status. Over the next 35 years, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles further honed the Multivan idea again and again, adapting the iconic vehicle generation by generation to the requirements of the time. New seat track systems, new swivel and individual seats, variable tables, ever more intelligent infotainment and driver assistance systems and additional efficiency

and safety accompanied the Multivan on its journey through down the years. However the DNA and thus the characteristics of a Swiss Army knife on wheels always remained untouched – inclusive of that unique sitting position in the front, the extreme variability and the practical access through to the rear between driver's and front passenger seat.

Albert Kirzinger, Head of Design at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, explains in a short video (https://www.vwn-presse.de/vwn-presse/landingpages/Der%20neue%20Multivan/LAY_Teaser_DNA_EN.mp4) what it is that makes the Bulli the Bulli: 'The core DNA is, of course, space. The new Multivan has space in abundance. Flexibility, usable flexibility - that's what sets the Bulli apart, including the seventh one. Including the Multivan.'

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This year, with a new Multivan generation, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles will be extending its long history into the future. With the best Multivan ever – more sustainable, more comfortable, safer, more intelligent, better connected and of higher quality than ever before. With this new model the commercial vehicle specialists from Hannover will be transferring the DNA of this iconic vehicle and its associated lifestyle feel into the digitalised and electrified age. How the substantive elements of the Multivan are changing will become apparent over the coming weeks and months.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles: We Transport Success, Freedom and Future

As a leading manufacturer of light commercial vehicles, the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand (VWCV) is reshaping the transportation of goods, services and people in a fundamental and lasting way. Our vehicles transport construction workers, families and adventurers, bread rolls, parcels and surfboards. Every day they help countless people all over the world to do a good job, they operate as mobile workshops and they bring paramedics and police personnel to wherever they are needed.

At our sites in Hannover (D), Poznań (PL), Września (PL) and Pacheco (ARG), around 24,000 employees produce the Transporter, Caddy, Crafter and Amarok model lines, and, as of 2022, will be producing the ID. BUZZ – the fully electric version of our iconic Bulli. Within the Volkswagen Group, VWCV is also the lead brand for autonomous driving and for mobility offerings such as Mobility-as-a- Service and Transport-as-a-Service - areas in which we are shaping the future of mobility.

In this way, the brand is transporting the society of tomorrow with all its requirements for clean, intelligent and sustainable mobility. It is this that Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles stands for with its brand promise: We transport success, freedom and future.

Information on all aspects of the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand and the Hannover site can be found at:

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VWN Podcast 'wetransportsuccess' (https://www.radio.de/p/wetransportsuccess)