Noua rulotă Volkswagen California va pune capăt erei de viață a camionetei VW

Sâmbătă, 27 Aprilie 2024 18:39

The 2023 California Concept provides a preview of what the upcoming Multivan-based California camper van will look like

The Volkswagen California 6.1 was never the best-looking California in history, dragged down by its oversized double-stacked grille, but it did usher in its fair share of new innovations to the iconic nameplate.

Now, Volkswagen is preparing it for retirement, starting production on a 1,500-model "Last Edition" that will see the 6.1 era out and welcome in the innovative new California T7, set to debut in just a few weeks.

Volkswagen introduced the T6.1 Transporter van in 2019. The California 6.1 camper van and reimagined California Beach 6.1 sleeper van followed just months later, as did the inevitable market surge of aftermarket T6.1-based camper vans.

A mere mid-cycle refresh, the T6.1 wasn't exactly a groundbreaking leap forward, but the California lineup did see some impressive additions during the 6.1 update, including a recliner bed lounge, smart home control, and the very first kitchen to feature in the Beach light camper, a clever single-burner that folded away into the door panel.

As usual, some of the most compelling camper layouts and components to grace this latest VW Transporter generation came not from Volkswagen itself but from the throngs of German and global VW camper conversion specialists.

There were expedition-ready modular off-roaders, beautifully appointed city slickers, rustic retreats and indoor/outdoor transformers, just to recall a few.

We may seem overly nostalgic for the sunset of a simple V.1 camper refresh that was only around for a quick half-decade, but the passing of the torch from T6.1 to T7 represents a larger generational shift in the history of VW camper vans. Since its introduction in 1988, the California has been built atop Volkswagen's Transporter van platform, beginning with the unmistakable T3 that combined 80s boxiness with a last-of-its-kind hoodless rear-engine profile.

The Transporter will now move over to a Ford platform, becoming something of a VW-badged Transit Custom, and the California will bid it adieu to make home exclusively on the VW-built T7 Multivan MPV. Volkswagen showed a near-production concept version of the new T7 California at last year's Düsseldorf Caravan Salon, and if the production camper follows the concept to a T (pun recognized, though not intended), it promises to be the biggest leap forward for a California in quite a while.

The time elapsed between the 2021 introduction of the Mulitvan T7 and this year's debut of the California T7 camper van has taken much longer than the T6 to California T6 or T6.1 to California 6.1, owing to the greater VW Commercial Vehicles van line shakeup and Ford partnership. In the meantime, VW has launched a simple sleeper conversion for the T7, and several full T7 camper vans and camper kits have already debuted from third-party manufacturers.

Still, the 2023 California Concept suggests that the official Volkswagen camper rendition of the newest Multivan will prove well worth the wait. We look forward to reporting on it on May 7.

*** Source: Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles