For years at a stretch, the Volkswagen Caddy has been the market leader in the segment of compact vans in the Netherlands. By a wide margin at that. To give you an idea, in 2019, 27% of the vans sold in said segment was a Caddy. It’s competing with the Ford Transit Connect, Peugeot Partner, Renault Kangoo, Fiat Doblò and the like.
Just across the street, I caugth a Caddy Type 2K, introduced in 2003. This generation was rolling on the same PQ35/A5 platform as the Golf Mk5 and the Touran Mk1 (a compact MPV), among others. Unlike that duo, the Caddy had a solid rear axle with leaf springs.
This is the SWB-version (268 cm~105.5”), powered by Volkswagen’s 1.9 liter TDI engine. In its heyday, that engine could be found under the hood of pretty much all cars and light commercial vehicles of the VAG Group.
The turbocharged and direct injected oil burner is good for 105 DIN-hp. Plentiful, for sure. It’s noteworthy that Caddies come with a towing capacity of 1,500 kg (3,307 lbs), the top of the segment.
Last year, the new Caddy (it says so on the plate) was unveiled. It’s generally referred to as the Caddy V, now based on the MQB-Evo platform.
The mid-size Transporter (FWD or AWD) and the full-size Crafter (FWD, RWD or AWD) complete Volkswagen’s line-up of commercial vehicles in Europe.
Personally, I’m a fan of their clean design, both exterior- and interior-wise. They don’t look like the end result of a designer’s psychedelic experience. Furthermore (and for the time being), there are no clones and multiple rebadges driving around. The current Caddy, Transporter and Crafter are Volkswagen only. Never mind the MAN TGE, for now.
What about the Amarok pickup? Well, its European production run ended in May 2020. Our VW dealerships don’t offer it any longer. If you insist on driving a Volkswagen with an open bed, you simply order a Transporter or Crafter chassis-cab with a flatbed and dropsides. The Amarok was too much of a niche vehicle, like all of its competitors. Light trucks with fixed sides just don’t cut it around here.
There will be a successor in the near future alright, but that one will be based on the next gen Ford Ranger. On a related note, the new generation of the Ford Transit Connect will have Caddy V genes. You see, FoMoCo and the VAG Group have become official partners in the field of light commercial vehicles.
Just wondering, how does VW get away with using the name “Caddy”?
Cadillac does not exist in Europe.
Well, a bit of history here…
Cadillac came from a French explorer who went by a quite mouthful name, Antoine de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac. He founded Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit in 1701, which later became Detroit.
And Cadillac does exist in Europe as a quaint little town in southwestern France. See the attached map.
Hey, I didn’t know about the quaint little town in France. I’m sure you can figure out this alternative Cadillac I found on the web:
Hehehe. I do figure that out…
Neat! As someone who enjoys geographic trivia, I love that.
Of course I felt compelled to tour Cadillac on Google StreetView. I like how the local Renault dealer is called “Renault Cadillac”:
Magnificent/magnifique! “Used cars all brands”, so there might be a Cadillac in Renault Cadillac’s lot. Chances are slim to none though.
Yes, it does. Cutesy American nicknames maybe not as much, though.
Goes with “Golf”, I suppose.
The first Caddy was actually a pickup based on the Golf Mk1.
And it also got a long lifespan in South Africa where it was sold until 2006 or 2009.
At least for Spaniard`s slangs, caddy means the guy that`s assistant of a golf`s player .
Same in English!
The UK has had special edition Golfs named Match and Driver in the past
Love it
Let’s see how far the CC commentariat can take this….
Naturally the four door wagon would be called the Four Wood.
The five-speed would have a “Five Iron” badge on the tail.
Top trim level could be the Club.
Three door hatch could be the Bag……..
The custom armor-plated version for VIPs would be the Bunker.
VW don’t have to “get away” with calling their vehicle the Caddy. Some Americans call a Cadillac a “caddy”, but that’s a nickname, not a registered trademark.
American companies have learned to trademark nicknames of that sort to prevent competitors (or disgruntled employees etc.) from registering or using the nickname themselves. This requires actually using the name on some product or service. Sometime in the 1980s McDonalds registered “McD’s” and “Mickey D’s”; until then, another fast food restaurant could have called themselves Mickey D’s and McDonalds may not have been able to stop them. Occasionally you’ll find an item on the dollar menu called “Mickey D’s Fries” or some such, just so it gets used. Likewise, IBM used to have a typewriter ribbon called the Big Blue.
Anyway, the only time I remember Cadillac referring to themselves as “Caddy” was in the Catera adverts with the tagline “the Caddy that zigs” (one of several awful taglines dreamt up by the ex-P&G brand managers that GM hired in the ’90s). That suggests they did stake a claim on “Caddy” at least in the U.S.
A quick search of the USPTO trademark database suggests GM haven’t pounced on Caddy—but I did learn there’s a product of some kind called “Who’s Your Caddy”.
Rare facts , infact at least for South American markets, for every 1 Volkswagen Caddy sold, already 19 units of Citroen Berlingo / Peugeot Partner are bought for the niche
Volkswagen Caddy panels never had good luck at the important share markets of Brazil Argentina Uruguay and Chile . They are pretty scarce despite VW`s high reputation, but incredibly Fiat New Fiorino, Renault Kangoo Dokker and Peugeot-Citroen Berlingo.Partner in this order are the hot cake sellers in this region of the world.
Wisely the author mentioned Volkswagen Amarok midsize pickup . Good news for both the traditional buyers and those ones who only accept the top highest tech =
Volkswagenwerge A.G. announced the newest generation of VW Amarok pickups will be installed at Southafrican`s Volkswagen facilities plant . Curiously, the current “old” Volkswagen Amarok will remain in big production at Volkswgen de Argentina`s facilities plant , so two types of pickups will coexist . Reason one : Volkswagen Amarok is the best selling pickup just behind Toyota Hilux . Reason two : Volswagen in Latin America is outselling more pickups than flat automobiles . Reason third : is a confirmed rumor that domestic Ford Motor Co. de Argentina will associate with Volkswagen just to keep in production the pickups VW Amarok at its own Ford Motors division factory . The big incognito is whether if furtherly the same pickup will be offered in both Volkswagen and Ford configurations just to supply their big dealer`s network .
Thanks for the info. I find the South American market for commercial vehicles fascinating. As mentioned, the Crafter is “our” biggest VW, but the folks in South America go much further. See Volkswagen Constellation below.
The VAG Group’s heavy vehicle division, Traton, is a global giant of course: Scania, MAN, Navistar and Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus.
Even with Navistar presence here in the US, VW light commercial vehicles haven’t seen any adoption stateside since the T1 vans of the fifties. The Rabbit/Mk1 Golf based Pickup was mostly bought for personal use, except perhaps as a parts store runner. Too bad, because these little Caddies look a lot nicer than the Connect, Doblo/Promaster City or Nissan equivalents. In fact, with the standard Golf gone from our market, and the Passat bowing out soon, VW is now mostly a seller of CUV’s, complemented by the Jetta and ID4, and a token performance car, the GTI.
VW’s commercial vans and dropside pickups sold well in the US into the 1960s until the 25% “chicken tax” on imported light trucks wiped them out, just as it was designed to do.
VW Amaroks are sold here they were the top of the ute segment for torque for a while but lately Im seeing RAM pickups doing light towing work, Ranger remains the big seller along with Toyota Hilux but Chinese LDV are a growing brand here and hard to beat on price though Mahindra is certainly trying.
VW Caddys are here though as with the ute segment so is everyone else and electric is the new black in small delivery vans.
They’re not common here, but our pastor/dominie has one for a parish runabout. In the best Dutch tradition, it has windows in the side doors and a back seat so he can take the family in it, but they also have something bigger. I’ve never thought to ask him why he chose a Caddy.
I loved your comment “They don’t look like the end result of a designer’s psychedelic experience.” Pretty well sums up much modern styling.
The success of the Caddy is wholly undeserved, they drive nicely when they’re working but reliability is horrendous. The company I work for (in Australia) bought 15 of them, all with lift up tailgates rather than the standard barn doors (the only ones to be imported, so if you see a Caddy in Australia with a one piece tailgate, it was originally sold to a Queensland pool service company).
Every single one had multiple mechanical failures, usually before covering even 100,000kms. Radiators were a common failure, along with injectors, digital displays, and the tailgate latch broke on every van at least once. We were overjoyed to be rid of them in the end.
I love the look and size of the Caddy, but this sort of tale can be heard endlessly in this country, especially for VWs in commercial use. The rep is really, really poor. It doesn’t seem so in Europe: hard to work out why there is such a gulf.