The Volkswagen Crafter: International Van of the Year 2017
Back-to-back wins for Volkswagen in International Van of the Year Award.
Over the 25 year history of the International Van of the Year Award (IVOTY), only two light commercial manufacturers have achieved back-to-back victories. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles now joins that exclusive group as the new Crafter has been elected IVOTY 2017 to follow the success of the Transporter 6 in winning the award last year.
With ten new vans launched across Europe in the past year, competition was very strong from the manufacturers involved. The IVOTY jury which consists of 24 leading journalists from top commercial vehicle magazines across Europe undertook a two- phase election process with the Volkswagen Crafter taking the top title.
Totally newly designed and developed independently by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, the second generation Crafter features 4 base models, coming in the 3 lengths and 3 heights with front, rear or four-wheel drive traction and a choice of manual or automatic transmission. Cargo volume of up to 18.4m3 is offered from the 3.5 to 5.3 tonne GVW payload offered. New Crafter will be built at a recently constructed manufacturing facility in Września, Poland.
Commenting on the entire vehicle concept launched prior to the IAA CV Show 2016, Dr. Eckhard Scholz, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles said: “The development of the new Crafter was a unique opportunity to avoid all compromises while drawing upon our decades of experience in the market segment. The new Crafter represents a fusion of product focus and customer focus. In other words, we developed this vehicle from the customer’s perspective.”
