1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148 
Caddy priced for confrontation
Page 28
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Volkswagen is throwing down the gauntlet to the market leaders from Bedford, Ford and Austin Rover with its new Caddy van, launched at the recent Scottish Show.
Rather than pitching the prices of the Caddy slightly below the Astramax, Escort and Maestro, VW has met the UK manufacturers head on by matching their pricing.
The Caddy retails at £6,750 for the four-speed 1.6 petrol; £7,338 for the four-speed 1.6 diesel; and £7,477 for the fivespeed diesel (all ex-VAT). A (five-speed) L6 petrol Astramax 560 costs £6,886; a (fivespeed) 1.8 diesel Escort 55 costs £7,253; and a (fivespeed) 2.0-litre diesel Maestro 700 L costs 27,329.
The Caddy offers the most load volume (at 2. 6m), but loses out on payload to its competitors, and with a less powerful diesel engine VW will need to market its newcomer very effectively to achieve sales at their expense.
The van is converted from the standard Yugoslavian-built Caddy pickup at VW's import centres, and was conceived entirely by VW's UK organisation. The parent company in Germany is reported to be "very curious".