What's all this about?
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has released the first official design sketches of its new Crafter van, which is due to be launched later this year.
Has much changed with it?
Although we won't get to see the new Crafter for real until the autumn, it has been designed as an entirely new van from the ground up. It follows similar styling to that already seen in the Caddy and Transporter models, which were updated in recent times.
Will it be practical?
Like the previous model, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is likely to offer a variety of different body sizes and styles. It has already confirmed that it will have a best in class drag coefficient of 0.33Cd, meaning it will be quite aerodynamic, and that should help with lowering fuel consumption.
How else has it been made better?
In order to get a greater understanding of its customer's needs, experts from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles accompanied them on their daily routines to see exactly how their Crafter was used. This information was used to develop the Crafter to be more user-friendly. Albert-Johann Kirzinger, Head of Design at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, said: "In the commercial vehicle sector especially, design has got to work for lots of different customer groups. With the Crafter, a level of surface quality, robustness and at the same time high qualitative value are achieved that have never before been available in this commercial vehicle class."
When will the new Crafter go on sale?
The new Volkswagen Crafter is due to be officially unveiled in the autumn and should be available to order soon after.
Dave Humphreys - 1 Jul 2016