After seventeen years, the Volkswagen Caddy is finally entering a completely new generation. We still have to wait until 2021 for the Life personal version in the Netherlands, but Volkswagen will launch the regular Caddy flavors at the end of this year.
The current generation of the Caddy was already presented in Amsterdam in 2003 and the model is therefore blowing its seventeenth candle this year. Despite that old age, the Caddy has remained as popular as ever. Volkswagen managed 5,000 copies of sales in the Netherlands last year, accounting for a market share of 27 percent. Nevertheless, 2020 is the year that the Caddy is helped to a new generation and with that transformation, the practical Volkswagen makes the switch to the MQB platform.
The new Caddy is a Caddy in every respect, but the appearance still deserves some attention. Volkswagen chooses to write the model name in the middle of the tailgate and mounts on either side of the rear high-mounted lighting units. The new Caddy muzzle is completely in line with that of recently unveiled Volkswagen models. Striking fact: at the very back we find two rear doors without windows. However, this is not standard.
Just like before, the Caddy is available as simply ‘Caddy’, the 4.5 meter long short version, and as 4.85 meter long Caddy Maxi. Both are 6.2 centimeters wider than the current Caddy flavors. The wheelbase of the regular Caddy increases by 7.3 centimeters compared to its predecessor and comes out at 2.75 meters. The Caddy Maxi has a wheelbase of 2.97 meters. The load space also grows in width by 5 centimeters and in height by 7 centimeters. The loading volume is 3.3 cubic meters. A euro pallet must be able to disappear across it. The longer Caddy Maxi has a sliding door that with its length of 84 centimeters is almost 14 centimeters longer than the one on the outgoing model. The loading volume of the Maxi is 4 cubic meters. According to Volkwagen, two euro pallets fit across here.
Volkswagen mentions, among other things, the – optional – presence of the well-known Virtual Cockpit. The Caddy is now also available with Kelyess Acces. On the list of available safety systems we come across such things as Adaptive Cruise Control with a stop & go function. Travel Assist is also available, a system with which the Caddy can find its way partly autonomously on, for example, motorways.
For the time being, only TDI diesel engines will be included on the engine list that range in power from 75 to 122 hp. A variant of natural gas is also becoming available.
The regular Caddy will be launched at the end of this year, the longer Caddy Maxi coming early next year. Focused on the Dutch market Information about the arrival of a new Caddy Life, the personal version that was previously called Combi, is not yet available. For the time being, only images of that person’s version are available, and as far as the interior is concerned, we still have to do it with a sketch.