Volkswagen May Build Light-Commercial Vehicles in U.S.

FRANKFURT, Germany – Volkswagen may produce light-commercial vehicles in the U.S., Eckhard Scholz, CEO of VW’s commercial-vehicle division, tells WardsAuto at the auto show here.

Volkswagen LCVs currently are manufactured in Germany, Poland, Brazil and Argentina. The auto maker is seeking to boost its global presence in the segment.

The next step in VW’s global strategy is to step up activity in South America. “Then the big issues come – China, Russia – and what we also are intensely watching is the U.S.,” Scholz says.

Volkswagen is tracking the success of Ford's European LCVs in the U.S. “If Ford will succeed (in having) these European vehicles accepted in the U.S., and I am deeply convinced it will, then the door is open,” the CEO says.

The auto maker will offer European-based models if it decides to enter the U.S. market.

Candidates include the VW Caddy, a vehicle in the Ford Transit Connect segment. The Caddy and its longer Caddy Maxi version currently are manufactured in Poland.

The VW Crafter commercial van also may be sold in the U.S. The auto maker’s largest LCV is manufactured by Daimler at its plants in Germany together with the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, but the Crafter successor will be made without Daimler’s involvement after 2016.

If VW decides to offer its LCVs in the U.S., the vehicles likely will be manufactured locally.

In the case of the VW Caddy, production in the country would be “almost inevitable,” Scholz says. Crafter output likely would be local, as well.

Scholz does not indicate when VW might make a decision on LCV expansion to the U.S.