Volkswagen Multivan News

People movers were never cool in Australia, but that’s changing as our evolving tastes take us out of SUVs and into little buses.

It’s started again - the talk about how autonomous cars are just around the corner.But are self-driving cars really going to be with us any time soon? Because it feels as though carmakers have been promising autonomous vehicles for a long time now, yet it seems like we’re still no closer to owning a vehicle that can drive us home or to work.Despite this, many car brands think autonomous vehicles are on our doorstep. Is that true? And if so, do we really want to let them in?Volkswagen’s global CEO of Commercial Vehicles Professor Dr Carsten Intra believes they are indeed imminent. “You think that going from combustion to electrification is a big change?” Dr Carsten asked Australia’s auto media last week at the Volkswagen Multivan launch. “And it is, but going autonomous will change our business. This is coming, it's in front of the door. Not just in 10 or 15 years, it will be sometime tomorrow. We are going through the world and testing our fleets in different cities.”Dr Carsten is referring to the fleet of self-driving ID. Buzz electric vans being tested by Volkswagen through its special autonomous company MOIA.Fitted with autonomous tech for full-self driving (but with a human babysitter on board) VW is testing the ID. Buzzes in the United States and Europe. The fleet has just been to Oslo, Norway for winter testing in snow and ice. The self-driving ID. Buzz has a high level of autonomous ability, level 4 actually, a level down from the fully autonomous Level 5 which doesn’t need a human chaperon. This is the level Volkswagen hopes to reach by 2030. These levels from 1 to 5 are just increasingly sophisticated forms of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Most new cars are at Level 2 and have systems that can take over steering, braking and acceleration.But Level 5, which can handle any situation without driver input, is much more complicated. While it may work in theory or on a closed circuit, what about on the Pacific Highway in Sydney at 8:30am on a Monday?So with 2030 less than five years away and as a journalist who has written story after story as car company after car company has made promise after promise of autonomous vehicles, I can tell you that the chances of fully autonomous cars driving on Australian roads by 2030 are close to zero.Forgive me for being jaded, but the autonomous car dream is and probably will always remain a dream. I wasn’t always so pessimistic about this. Back in 2016 I was very excited to write a story for CarsGuide about Ford’s bold claim that it was so far advanced into mastering autonomous tech that they’d have self-driving cars everywhere by 2021.“Ford will be mass producing vehicles with full autonomy within five years and that means there will be no steering wheels, no gas pedals and no brake pedals - a driver is not going to be required," Ford’s then global chief Mark Fields announced.Well it’s 2025 and these pedal-less, steering wheel-less driverless cars are nowhere to be seen.Ford isn’t the only one. Most car companies in the past 10 years have said they are on the cusp of autonomous breakthroughs from Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and Audi to Volvo and Hyundai.Well they used to say that and many companies made bold claims, just like Ford’s, that they, too, would have autonomous cars in just a matter of years. But most of the car manufacturers have gone quiet on the topic of self-driving cars. All except Tesla with its so-called full self-driving function which is very likely just advanced driver assistance and not full self-driving. Actually in recent weeks Tesla has had to re-think what it calls its driving system due to regulatory issues in China.Tesla’s claims of having full-self driving modes 10 years ago probably caused the rest of the industry to suddenly work harder and faster on their own autonomous projects only for all of us to reach this point where we’ve discovered that you can absolutely teach a car to drive, but setting it loose on public roads is going to create a multitude of problems from safety and legal to ethical dilemmas. Besides, Volkswagen isn't the first to have fleets testing in cities. Ride-hailing companies such as Waymo have been working on autonomous tech for years only to run into operational difficulties with cars getting lost or even attacked.Until recently Waymo's fleet of autonomous taxis has operated in just the United States with San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin being the main cities where the service can be found. Now Waymo is going further afield to Japan and is using Tokyo as its first location outsided the US to test the autonomous tech.Waymo will have been testing and operating its fleet of autonomous cars for 10 years in 2026. An achievement in itself and while the technology has come far it hasn't been without inicident. There have been cases where Waymo vehicles have malfunctioned or become confused. Two years ago in Phoenix 12 Waymos all turned up in the same street at the same time and caused a traffic jam, while last year in San Francisco a car park being used to hold dozens of Waymo vehicles erupted into chaos as the empty cars began honking at each other for no apparant reason.Hiccups aside it's truly amazing how well Waymo's fleet of electric Jaguar iPace SUVs can navigate through complicated terrain such as hilly San Francisco with its myriad of streets. Waymo has also recently signed a new deal with Chinese carmaker Zeekr to use its electric Mix people mover in 2025.Volkswagen's own testing with its ID. Buzz fleets will indeed add to the advancement of autonomous tech, too.Progress is slow, however, and for good reason - safety, regulations, ethics and the unpredicatability of other road users present huge challenges for a technology that's expected to be as good, if not better, than humans. Volvo is a safety tech pioneer in the auto industry and one of the first to start developing autonomous systems. But in 2023 Volvo Cars CEO and President Jim Rowan made a startling admission: self-driving cars won’t happen anytime soon.  "So first of all, this big myth that there's five different levels of autonomy is nonsense, in my opinion," he said. "You've got two levels of autonomy. One is your hands on the steering wheel. One is your hands off the steering wheel."Can we drive a car fully autonomous? Yes. Does regulation allow that? No. So I think regulation will be the barrier towards full adoption of full AD more than technology," he said.“Driving inside the city when there's schools and roadworks, and there's a lot of change every day, I think that's a long, long way off.”So if the boss of the company which was so far ahead in developing fully autonomous cars has declared the mission more or less over for now, what’s caused Volkswagen to make its autonomous claims? Well, we’ll have to wait and see but I think we’ll be waiting a lot longer before we start seeing.

Volkswagen has announced pricing for its all-new, seven-seat Multivan people mover ahead of its arrival across dealers nationwide in the second quarter.

Volkswagen has confirmed its electric Transporter mid-sized van will arrive in Australia before the end of this year to go head-to-head with the Ford E-Transit Custom and LDV eDeliver 7.In an announcement made this week Volkswagen said the Transporter battery electric vehicle (BEV) would land locally in the third quarter of 2025. This would have the electric version of the new-generation Transporter arriving at the same time as the diesel variant, with the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) variant following in the second quarter of 2026.Volkswagen also confirmed some vital specifications for the Transporter EV. A single electric motor producing 210kW and 450Nm will power the Transporter EV’s rear wheels and a payload capacity of 1038kg will apply to both short-wheelbase and long-wheel base versions.In comparison, the diesel variant of the Transporter uses a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine making 125kW and 390Nm, and will be available in front- and all-wheel drive. Short- and long wheelbase grades will have a payload of 1326kg.The Transporter PHEV will be powered by a 2.5-litre petrol-electric hybrid system making a combined 205kW and 320Nm, with both short- and long wheelbases offering 1140kg of payload.Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Product Manager Nadia Bucholtz said the new-generation Transporter would cater for more applications than before.“Short and long wheelbases, standard roof height and high roof variants, front-wheel drive and 4Motion, Transporter has remained committed to supplying the most fit-for-purpose vehicles to our customers, including the most extensive range of applications,” Ms Bucholtz said.“The addition of BEV and PHEV variants to the range serves to further expand that product offering, particularly as our customers look to ways to minimise their emissions, maximise drive comfort and reduce running costs.”Volkswagen developed the Transporter EV in conjunction with Ford which has produced its version, the E-Transit Custom, and that is also expected to arrive in 2025.Pricing for both vehicles has not been announced yet but buyers can expect Volkswagen’s Transporter EV to list from about $70,000. LDV's eDeliver 7 is a popular rival to both the Transporter EV and E-Transit Custom and starts at $67,358 before extending up to $73,674.The entry price into the current generation of the Transporter is for the diesel 320S Trend short-wheel base which starts at $56,590 before on-road costs and extends to the top-of-the-range grade at $62,990.Volkswagen’s reveal of the Transporter's arrival timing came during a broader announcement detailing the brand’s upcoming commercial vehicles including the Caddy light cargo carrier, the electric ID. Buzz retro Kombi, the larger Crafter and the new-generation and just-arrived Multivan people mover.

Volkswagen Australia has announced its new-generation Multivan people mover will arrive early in 2025 ready to compete with Kia’s segment-leading Carnival.Volkswagen said the new Multivan will land in Australia during Q2 next year.It will initially be available in one form: the TDI 350 Life, which can be had with a short wheelbase (SWB) for a list price $75,990 or long wheelbase (LWB) for $78,990.The difference in dimensions sees an increase of the SWB’s overall length from 4973mm to 5173mm in the LWB. Volkswagen said a Style grade will join it in 2025, along with another powertrain.The Multivan is powered by a 2.0-litre turbo diesel unit making 110kW and 360Nm. The Life is typically the entry grade into Volkswagen's ranges and Style often sits above that in the line-up and offers more premium touches and features.All new Multivans will be seven seaters, but unlike the competitors seating is extremely versatile with multiple combinations and layouts possible for passengers and cargo.Standard features on the TDI 350 Life include 17-inch alloy wheels, keyless entry, power tailgate, 10.0-inch media screen, a digital instrument cluster and leather-clad steering wheel. All new-generation models typically represent a significant change to the models they supersede, in the case of the Mutlivan this is especially true. The new vehicle has now been built on what is a car and SUV platform that also underpins Volkswagen’s Golf and Tiguan.“The Multivan has always been about offering amazing practicality and comfort, and the all-new generation further extends that approach on the same platform as a Golf or Tiguan,” said Volkswagen Commercial vehicles director Ryan Davies. “This vehicle is engineering led, loyal and new customers are buying into a level of refinement, packaging intelligence and seating versatility never before seen among people movers."Volkswagen will be hoping to steal some of the sales and limelight away from the Kia Carnival with Multivan, but won’t be able to beat it on price. Currently the Carnival starts at $50,150 for the entry grade petrol variant and extends up to $76,210 for the top-of-the-range hybrid version.It might not be able to go as low in price, but Volkswagen will compete with versatility and choice not just in the Multivan itself but in the more van-like models to come in the form of the Transporter cargo carrier and fully electric ID. Buzz retro Kombi coming soon.“Within 12 months we will also offer this seven seat Multivan alongside a five and seven-seat fully electric ID. Buzz and commercial ID. Buzz Cargo, plus the all new Transporter and Caravelle,” said Mr Davies. “No other brand will offer such powertrain choice, nor will they have such a new range to offer.” 

The seventh generation Multivan is almost in Australia but here's a sneak peak of the practical people mover ahead of its 2025 arrival

Volkswagen is about to send in its new models - here's what's coming and when

Volkswagen has revealed plans to introduce an all-electric version of its Amarok ute, possibly as soon as 2026. Speaking at the recent Volkswagen Brand Day, where the ID.Buzz and ID. Buzz Cargo electric vans were all-but-confirmed for local sale, Volkswagen Australia commercial vehicles director Ryan Davies revealed that the company has big plans for electric models.

Volkswagen Australia has announced pricing for a limited-edition version of the VW Multivan, called 'Edition', as part of a continued expansion of its van range.Starting at $76,990 before on-road costs, the VW Multivan Edition will include a range of feat

The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has handed out the latest round of crash-test results, with the Kia EV6 and new-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class scoring big across the board.