Volkswagen is slowly revealing the look of its new seventh-generation Transporter van, and Albert Kirzinger, Chief Designer of the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand, has been walking us through the latest VW van’s styling.
It’s a direct successor to the current Transporter 6.1, and it shares a long-standing family look stretching back to the Transporter 4 of the 1990s. However, there is a cleaner, more defined look. While styling might seem superfluous to a commercial vehicle, it’s not — businesses give off a classier, more appealing image if they have a sharp-looking van.
DNA of the Bulli
“We are transferring the DNA of our icon into modern times with the completely new Transporter,” explains Kirzinger. “The details of the seventh Bulli generation pick up the characteristic design features of its six predecessors and give them a new interpretation. This has a tradition – every new Volkswagen Transporter has always represented a new visual beginning, a stylistic bridge between a long history, the present and the future. This is precisely what has kept this product line updated for over eight decades, making it the most successful van series in its class in the world.”
Instantly recognisable
Kirzinger also says he has worked in little visual references to the original Type 2 ‘Bulli’ — the classic, curvaceous Volkswagen van of the 1950s and 1960s. “One second is all it takes to immediately recognise the Transporter – which has been redesigned from the first to last millimetre – as the successor to the T6.1 and as a member of the Bulli family,” says Kirzinger. “The design consistently follows the iconic Bulli DNA. This is already evident in the main body, which has the characteristic contour for the product line below the side windows – we call it the Bulli line. This unique DNA can be found in all areas of the exterior design and makes the new Transporter the original in its class.”
Kirzinger says that there are other references, too. There’s a touch of the T5 Transporter in the grille’s shape and some of the T6’s more technical look in the slim headlights, plus an overall sense of what he calls ‘iconic clarity’, which stretches back to the original. “The front design of our seventh Transporter immediately makes it clear that it is a member of the Bulli family and complements the Multivan and ID. Buzz duo,” says Kirzinger.
Up to 5.4-metres
From the side, even though the new Transporter’s length stretches from 5.0 to 5.4 metres, the idea is that you can still clearly identify its family lineage. “As with the T6.1, we have extended the upper contour of the headlights as a line into the sides. This continues all the way to the rear and creates a pronounced linear curvature above it – the Bulli line. This line separates the upper and lower areas of the body and is a tribute to the original,” says Kirzinger.
High-end options
If you want to jazz up the look of your new Transporter, Kirzinger and his team have designed a new range of alloy wheels, which stretch from 16 to 19-inch diameters, with the top-spec ‘Indianapolis’ wheel getting a diamond-cut finish and black contrast inner sections. There are also practical touches — versions with engines get the fuel flap in the same place as before, on the b-pillar, while plug-in hybrid and fully-electric versions get a charging flap just below the right-hand headlight.
Transporter’s low loading lip
Around the back, once again, you can choose between a top-hinged tailgate and side-hinged ‘barn doors’ for access to the load bay. “With a horizontal line below the rear window and a black handle strip above the number plate, we form a smooth horizontal strip between the C-shaped tail light clusters, which we also use here to emphasise the iconic clarity of the new Transporter,” says Kirzinger. “As always with a Volkswagen commercial vehicle, there is no line that is not logical. The described horizontal lines below the rear window and above the handle strip are a good example of this, framing the Volkswagen logo and extending into the tail lights with millimetre precision.”
Again, it’s not all about style—the rear end of the new Transporter has been carefully engineered so that the load-lip height ranges from 575mm to 638mm, depending on the model.
Pre-sales have already begun
Officially, the new Transporter won’t go on sale until the first quarter of 2025, but European pre-sales have already begun, with a base price of €36,780 — Irish prices and specifications have not yet been announced.