VW to Boost Volkswagen Crafter Sales through Conversions
Tuesday 10 April 2012 Back to Blog
In an effort to increase the sales of the Volkswagen Crafter, VW are looking for a conversion service to help the brand increase its sales in the heavy van market.
Currently the Volkswagen Crafter commands 5% of the heavy van segment which when compared to the VW Transporter and the VW Caddy underperforms. Both commercial vehicles command 20% of their respective markets.
Alex Smith, who is head of Volkswagen's UK operation, put the lack of sales down to other brands establishing links with bodybuilder firms faster than Volkswagen who have been relatively slow in this regard.
Smith said: "We need to catch up in conversions. We've been under represented here."
He pointed out the Volkswagen Crafter is highly suited to dropside and tipper conversions, and VW needed to forge good relationships with van converters to turn the Crafter into a better prospect for van operators that wanted a different kind of heavy van.
Despite the hunt for a good van conversion company for the VW Crafter, Mr Smith emphasised Volkswagen would not be putting too many resources into launching the conversion side of the Volkswagen Crafter, and the company has already ruled out allowing the Volkswagen Crafter to be hired on a flexi rent or daily rental basis.
He said: "The (large van) market is quite high cost. We go after profitable, sustainable growth.
"We defined a larger share for the Caddy and Transporter, you'll never see the Crafter getting to a 20% market share.
"We think there's a market for the 4x4 Crafter. It can do a great job for a limited number of customers."