4 Minutes
Not every camper needs to arrive finished from the factory. Some owners want a blank page to scribble their own van-life dreams on. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is betting on that principle with the new Multivan Camper now available in the United Kingdom — a purpose-built base vehicle meant for professional converters and bespoke builds.
Think of it as a factory-done handover: the shell is smartly prepared, but the interior is left intentionally open. Volkswagen supplies a long-wheelbase Multivan with an open roof and pre-fitted headlining, two swivel front seats, twin sliding doors, a tailgate, and a rear cabin that’s trimmed but empty — no rear seats, no floor coverings, nothing that a conversion specialist would throw away. The idea is to cut waste and give converters a true blank canvas to work with.
That canvas comes with useful bones. Behind the front seats there’s roughly 4,053 liters of load volume to play with. Interior dimensions measure about 2,625 mm in length, 1,665 mm in width and 1,312 mm in height — generous enough for kitchens, sleeping platforms, storage islands or whatever layout a designer dreams up.
Buyers choose between two drivetrains. One is the classic 150 PS TDI paired with a DSG gearbox; the other is an eHybrid that produces 240 PS combined and pairs DSG with 4MOTION all-wheel drive. Prices in the UK start from £43,900 or £50,725 excluding VAT for the two variants, which works out to about £52,680 and £60,870 with VAT — roughly $72k and $83k at current rates. It’s a premium starting point, but one built around flexibility rather than a finished lifestyle package.
Volkswagen does offer some factory-fit options for convenience: three-zone Climatronic 3 air conditioning, heated front seats, satellite navigation and upgraded alloys are all available if you want a few comforts before the conversion shop gets to work. Yet the Multivan Camper is delivered with “incomplete M1 homologation,” meaning it will need a conversion and a second approval to be fully registered as a camper — a critical detail for anyone planning to drive it straight off the dealer forecourt into the wild.
The practical benefits are obvious for converters: a pre-cut roof and headliner save hours of fabrication, the empty rear cabin avoids wasted parts and excess weight, and the two swivel seats and sliding doors make living layouts easier to realize. For customers, that translates to bespoke interiors tailored to exact needs rather than compromises forced by mass production. Want a fixed bed and full bathroom? Done. Prefer modular furniture that converts from office-by-day to camper-by-night? Also possible.
There’s a certain romance to it. Some buyers want a polished, showroom-ready Marco Polo-style camper from an in-house conversion line; others prefer to commission a craftsman to build a van that reflects their personality. Volkswagen’s Multivan Camper is clearly aimed at the latter: a commercially minded, converter-friendly baseline that hands control back to small builders and specialist outfitters.
If you’re a converter or a customer who values customization, this Multivan is worth a closer look. It’s less about providing answers and more about giving makers the tools to ask better questions — how will you use the space, what compromises will you reject, and which conveniences matter most on the road?
Source: autoevolution
Comments
atomwave
All good but incomplete M1 homologation sounds messy. So you cant drive it as a camper till another approval? Who handles that, buyer or converter...
driveline
Wow this is neat, factory gives a blank canvas for van builders! Love the waste-cutting angle, tempted to convert one lol
Leave a Comment