After a year in which Volkswagen’s van sales increased by 23%, the manufacturer’s dealers have been told: “Fasten your seatbelts for action in 2011.”

The call comes from Volkswagen’s director of commercial vehicles Simon Elliott as first versions of the new Caddy van begin arriving in the showrooms. 

Elliott believes this new model – and the Amarok pick-up, which is due in the UK next spring – will help lay the foundations for even more spectacular sales growth next year.

VW’s 23% increase in a market that was up by 14% is surprising, bearing in mind that the old Caddy was on run-out during this period. But even as new versions were being built, Elliott said buyers were still clamouring for the previous model.

He said: “If we had another 2,000 old model Caddys we could have sold them, but the supply was restricted as the new models came on stream.”

New Caddy features a fresh look, a new set of Euro V common-rail diesel engines, replacing the old Pumpe
Düse ones and a host of enhancements, such as ESC stability control as standard across the range. 

There will also be low emission BlueMotion variants and – unique in the class – a full four-wheel drive 4Motion. Prices range from £12,100 to £22,690 ex-VAT.

Elliott is adamant that there will be no “silly deals” on offer. He said: “Our slogan is ‘a brilliant van made better’ and that’s what the new Caddy is. We won’t be giving special deals such as some of our competitors offer as we don’t want to distress the market.” 

Volkswagen will be undertaking a ‘massive’ advertising campaign to support its dealers. Special teams will visit its 65 specialist van centres and there will be a new set of radio adverts, an 80,000-address mailshot and a dedicated website.