VW News: Volkswagen's Commercial Division Considers A U.S. Expansion

[William Maley]

If there is one bright spot in Volkswagen, it has to be their commercial division. Through August, the division has seen sales increase 8.2 percent to 308,500 models. With their success, it should come as no surprise they are considering moving into other markets such as the U.S.

Eckhard Scholz, Volkswagen's commercial vehicles division CEO tells Reuters that the United States "are still a highly interesting market." A lot of this comes from many commercial vehicle manufacturers operating in the U.S. are taking ideas from their European counterparts. But when asked about possibly selling vehicles in the U.S., Scholz said,

"A lot of things come to mind but at the moment I have nothing concrete to say."

Volkswagen's commercial division handles the Caddy, Transporter, and Crafter vans, along with the Amarok pickup. 

This isn't the first time that Volkswagen has considered bringing over some of their commercial vehicles. Last year, then CEO of Volkswagen of America, Michael Horn said the automaker was looking at possibly bringing over one of their vans into the U.S.

But there is a big elephant in the room; the diesel emission scandal. A fair number of commercial vehicle buyers like diesel engines for fuel economy and the ability to handle heavy loads. But Volkswagen may have a very difficult time trying to get diesel engines certified in the U.S. They might have to go with gas engines for the time being which could limit their appeal. 

Source: Reuters

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[daves87rs]

Not sure how well they would do with gas engines only.....

[G. David Felt]

EV, build like the EV Bus, a full size Van with one massive 300-400 KWh battery pack, the skateboard concept and I bet they would sell every one of those EV Commercial vans as the savings over the long haul would pay for themselves due to less maintenance, no emission, quiet. 

These would make great city delivery vans for UPS, FedEx, etc.

[William Maley]

8 hours ago, daves87rs said:

Not sure how well they would do with gas engines only.....

Keep in mind, if Volkswagen was to bring the Caddy (second vehicle on the left in the picture), they could get away with offering a gas engine. Why? Well, it competes with the Chevrolet City Express/Nissan NV 200, Ford Transit Connect, and Ram ProMaster City; all of these models which only feature a gas engine. 

Would it be nice that Volkswagen offered a diesel for it to provide a point of differentiation? Sure, but in light of what is happening, I wouldn't count on it.

[A Horse With No Name]

VW needs to have some sort of a unified marketing plan.  Right now, they are grasping for straws.

8 hours ago, daves87rs said:

Not sure how well they would do with gas engines only.....

Agreed.  VW has had reliability issues with all of their gas engines other than the 2.5 and the old non turbo 2.0.  Fleet operators will take this into account when they make decisions.

[daves87rs]

Maybe I should add....what value would VW have bringing these over that Chevy, Ford or the other vans could offer? It's kinda turning into a crowded market...

 

[Suaviloquent]

One of them is a Sprinter clone, one a previous gen Transit Connect, the other a Ford Ranger lookalike and the other a pint sized GMC Safari...

 

In other words, they blend right in with the right kind of crowd.