Volkswagen Multivan Black Edition heads Down Under

VOLKSWAGEN has revealed a special-edition version of its Multivan people-mover, dubbed Black Edition, which will hit Australian showrooms next month from $63,490 plus on-road costs.

 

As its name suggests, the limited-run Multivan variant has a dark theme with black wheels, trim pieces and roof plus timber-look flooring, adding $9900 to the pricetag compared to the TDI340 Comfortline upon which it is based.

 

Volkswagen’s local wing has yet to confirm total unit allocation and exact specifications.

 

This is not the first time Volkswagen has given its Multivan the ‘Edition’ treatment, releasing the limited Kombi 70 last year and the Edition25 in 2011.

 

According to Volkswagen Group Australia (VGA) director of commercial vehicles Ryan Davies, the decision to import the Black Edition was to garner interest in the T6 Multivan as it enters its run-out phase.

 

“So Multivan Black is a limited edition, we’ll go into a run-out phase with the T6 to keep the product in people’s mind,” he said.

 

“Doing something a little bit different will provide something for our customers which isn’t just a plain white box, so-to-speak.”

 

Mechanically, the Black Edition is unchanged from the TDI340 Comfortline and is motivated by a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine outputting 103kW and 340Nm.

 

Power is sent to the front wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

 

The Black Edition was set to arrive last year, however, the delivery boats were turned around due to the stink bug issue that has seen a number of manufacturers delay shipments.

 

Marmorated stink bugs have been found in cargo ships headed Down Under, posing a potential bio-security risk to Australia, and can cause damage to agricultural crops and plants.

 

It is predicted that VGA has been forced to delay more than 1800 vehicles since June due to the stink-bug issue.

 

VGA sold 1095 Multivan units in 2018 for a 1.8 per cent lift year-to-year, making it the third most popular model in the sub-$60,000 people-mover segment behind the Honda Odyssey (1895) and Kia Carnival (6610).