Transporter comes in threes

BODY STYLES: LWB PANEL VAN, VAN AND SWB KOMBI

- Charl Bosch

Called the Plattenwagen or “flat-wagon” when directly translated, the very first Transporter saw the light of day in 1950 as the second “volks-wagen” after the Beetle.

The Transporter has become a seminal model for Volkswagen that celebrates its 75th anniversary this year.

Sold over seven generations, the Transporter holds a sentimental space in South Africa where production ran from 1955 to 2002 at the Kariega plant across three of the seven iterations.

Imported from the plant in Hanover since the T4, the latest generation Transporter, arguably represents the biggest change since the former that switched from a rear engine to a front engine configuration. Similar to the Amarok, the Transporter forms part of a joint venture with Ford as it is based on the Transit/Toureno Custom, and made at the Blue Oval's Kocaeli plant in Turkey.

Consequently, it doesn't form part of the T-series and isn't called T7 but simply only Transporter.

The Transporter initially, offers three bodystyles: a long wheelbase panel van, the van and passenger combination Crew Bus and the people-carrying short wheelbase Kombi in Commerce, Life, Edition and Style trim grades.