Volkswagen has a brand new generation Transporter in the development rooms, a bus that has already appeared extensively on several occasions. Never before has the Transporter ‘T7’ been viewed as well as today.
The current, sixth generation of the Volkswagen Transporter went under the knife last year, but a successor to the bus, which by now is very much aging, is under construction. The current Transporter, the sixth generation, was introduced to the world in 2015, but was in fact a further development of the 2003 T5. Time for fresh blood for the Transporter.
The new, seventh generation, of course, adheres to the well-known van concept, but there are still quite a few changes by Transporter standards. The Transporter gets an optically less fused hood with the rest of the body, a specimen that protrudes slightly more. Volkswagen cuts the A-pillar in two parts and fills the space between them with an extra side window. We know something similar from MPVs such as the Citroën C4 Space Tourer. Not only does it provide better all-round visibility, it also provides additional light in the interior of the bus. The new Transporter appears to have ID.3-style headlamps connected on this test specimen by two chrome strips. The lighting on the back of this test sample does not seem to be the final one yet. The Transporter gets relatively flat and wide lighting on his butt. Earlier it became clear that the small square lights on the back of the current Transporter should clear the field.
Of course there will also be a passenger version of the new Transporter: the Multivan. With the disappearance of the Sharan, it is not inconceivable that Volkswagen gives that passenger bus a slightly larger role. Countryman Opel already applied a similar concept by adding the ‘luxuezue’ passenger version of the Vivaro, the Zafira Life, as the successor to the Zafira in the range.
Ford and Volkswagen have found each other in company car land. Whether the new Transporter is subcutaneously related to the new Ford Transit seems unlikely. Volkswagen has been testing with its new bus for some time, while the commercial vehicle cooperation between the two brands has only recently taken shape.