Volkswagen Crafter
Overview
Van
A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or groups of people.In British English usage, it can be either specially designed or based on a saloon or sedan car, the latter type often including derivatives with open backs...
sold by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles , , is a German manufacturer of commercial vehicles. Originally part of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars company, it is now a separate brand and marque of the Volkswagen Group....
. It is the third generation of the Volkswagen LT
Volkswagen LT
The Volkswagen LT was the largest light commercial vehicle panel van produced by Volkswagen from 1975 to 2006...
truck, which has been in production since 1975.
Also sold by Mercedes as the Mercedes Sprinter, the Crafter officially replaced the 31 year old LT
Volkswagen LT
The Volkswagen LT was the largest light commercial vehicle panel van produced by Volkswagen from 1975 to 2006...
nameplate, although it is known as the LT3 as its production plant code.
Its major European competitors include the Opel Movano
Opel Movano
The Opel Movano is a mid-sized commercial vehicle made since 1998 and badged as an Opel, and as the Vauxhall Movano in the United Kingdom. It underwent a facelift in late 2003 and a major revision in 2010....
, Ford Transit
Ford Transit
The Ford Transit is a range of panel vans, minibuses, and pickup trucks, produced by the Ford Motor Company in Europe.The Transit has been the best-selling light commercial vehicle in Europe for 40 years, and in some countries the term "Transit" has passed into common usage as a generic term...
, Fiat Ducato
Fiat Ducato
The Fiat Ducato is a large van produced by Fiat. The Fiat Ducato is the same van as the Citroën Jumper and the Peugeot Boxer, which are all very popular vans to convert into motorhomes...
and Iveco Daily
Iveco Daily
The Iveco Daily is a large van produced by Iveco from 1978; it was sold also as Fiat Daily until 1983. It is also available as a minibus.-First generation :...
.
The Crafter is built in the Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
Ludwigsfelde
Ludwigsfelde
-Location:The town is located south of Berlin in the district Teltow-Fläming on the plateau of Teltow. In earlier times, it was part of the district Zossen.-Parts of the town:Since 1997/2003 the following villages are part of the city:*Ahrensdorf...
and Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
plants, the same German factories where the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is a light and heavy commercial vehicle, built by Daimler AG of Stuttgart, Germany as a van, chassis cab and minibus, and sold as a Mercedes model, except in the U.S. where it is built from complete knock down kits and was sold by Freightliner until 2010 when Mercedes...
is built.
Many people believe that the Sprinter was around before VW's LT models, however, the LT was in production long before Mercedes started purchasing them from VW (since 1975, actually).
Those units looked like an over-sized VW van, lacking the longer hood of the Sprinters that were brought to North America.
In the 1990s, Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
Commercial Unit agreed to purchase a large number of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles , , is a German manufacturer of commercial vehicles. Originally part of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars company, it is now a separate brand and marque of the Volkswagen Group....
LT and they worked with VW in a Joint development project to develop the second generation VW LT, which looked a lot like VW's T4 Transporter van (which debuted in North America in 1992 as the Eurovan in the US, and as Eurovan passenger vans, Transporter commercial vans, and Transporter trucks in Canada).
The second generation VW LT truck was also the first generation Sprinter truck.
Mercedes took delivery of the VW LT without an engine and installed their own diesel power-plants.
