It’s called the VW Grand California, and it stretches six meters long. That’s a
good meter longer than the three-row Atlas crossover, and
it’s bigger in just about every other dimension, too.
Into that oversized
form, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has fitted sleeping berths, a bathroom
with shower, and a kitchen with a 70-liter fridge and twin-burner
gas stovetop… everything, we’d say, but the kitchen sink. But it has one of
those as well.
It also has a
sliding rear door with an electric foldout step for ease of ingress and egress,
a Bluetooth-enabled audio system you can control from the back with your tablet
or smartphone, panoramic skylights, solar panel on the roof… the works. It can
even be had with 4Motion all-wheel drive for venturing off the proverbial
beaten path.
VW’s able to fit
all that stuff into the Grand California because, while the standard California
is based on the Transporter, this one’s based on the larger Crafter. But it
still builds upon the automaker’s extensive experience making camper vans. In
fact it’s made over 160,000 Californias since the first one debuted based on
the old Bulli microbus.
The new Volkswagen
Grand California will debut at the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf, where the
manufacturer will reveal all the details – including pricing and launch dates.
But despite the name, we wouldn’t expect it to be offered in California – or in
any of the other 49 states in the American union.
