Throwback Saturday: The Evolution Of The VW Caddy Over Four Decades

Volkswagen gave us a first taste of its all-new Caddy two months ago but the compact van has yet to reach dealerships, especially given the novel coronavirus outbreak.

To sweeten the wait to the 2021 Caddy’s launch, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles looks back at the previous four generations that helped establish the nameplate as the segment leader in Europe.

Since the first-generation Caddy launched in 1978 as a pick-up, Volkswagen has sold more than three million models worldwide (over 200,000 in the UK) across four generations. The VW Caddy has been available in a variety of body styles, with customers able to buy it as a panel van, MPV people carrier, camper and even pick-up (only for the first two generations).

Without further ado, let’s take a trip back memory lane and see what each VW Caddy generation is famous for.

See Also: Did You Know That VW Offered A Small Fleet Of Electric Transporter Bulli Vans In The 1970s?

VW Caddy 1: 1978 – 1992

The Volkswagen Caddy story begins in the United States, where it was launched in 1978 as a pick-up under the Rabbit nameplate – yes, it was a Golf underneath. Produced at the Volkswagen Westmoreland Assembly Plant near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the versatile vehicle eventually found its way to Europe. In 1982, the Rabbit pick-up entered production in Sarajevo under a new name which survived until today: the Caddy.

The model main highlight was a load bay of 1.83 meters (72 inches), which could be covered by a cargo bed hard top made of glass-reinforced plastic (GRP). This effectively turned the pick-up into a small urban delivery van. Already on offer in the 1980s were caravan-style add-on units that turned the Caddy into a compact camper.

Production of the first-generation Caddy ended in Europe in 1992 but continued in South Africa at the Uitenhage factory until 2007. More than 207,000 units were made in total, including 6,730 in the UK.

VW Caddy 2: 1995 – 2003

The second-generation Caddy debuted in 1995 and ditched the Golf platform for the smaller architecture of the Volkswagen Polo and SEAT Ibiza. The Caddy was twinned with the SEAT Inca and made on the same production line in Martorell near Barcelona.

The Caddy 2 was available as a panel van and high-roofed estate, both offering an increased cargo capacity of 2.9 cubic meters (102.4 cu ft). The second-generation Caddy only came with front doors and rear wing doors – sliding lateral doors were not available. In 1995 came the Caddy camper and in 1996 the Caddy pick-up, a sister vehicle to the Skoda Felicia built in the Czech Republic. Finally, VW launched the Caddy Family MPV in 2017.

The second-generation Caddy was much more successful than its predecessor, with 520,000 units produced (including the SEAT Inca and Skoda Felicia variants). 26,089 of them found a home in the UK.

VW Caddy 3: 2003 – 2014

The third-generation VW Caddy marked the return to a VW Golf architecture, the Mk5 Golf in this case. Production moved to Poznan in Poland, which is still the Caddy’s home to this day.

The Caddy 3 brought a much bigger cargo bay of 3.2 cubic meters (113 cu ft) and the choice of rear wing doors or a large tailgate. The panel van and estate variants were joined by the MPV with a seven-seat configuration and a Caddy Tramper camper van in 2005. From 2007, Volkswagen also offered the longer Caddy Maxi with a larger load capacity.

In 2010, VW gave significant updates to the Caddy 3, including refreshed design and tech including ESC on all models and optional 4Motion AWD. 2013 brought the Cross Caddy high-riding AWD model. In 11 years, Volkswagen built more than 1.6 million third-gen Caddys, 110,836 of which arrived in the UK.

VW Caddy 4: 2015 – 2020

The fourth-generation Caddy unveiled in 2015 was more a comprehensive facelift of the previous model rather than an all-new model. It continued to be available in panel van, estate and MPV guises, with a range of two, five and seven seat configurations. The all-wheel-drive Caddy Alltrack, a successor to the Cross Caddy, followed soon after alongside the Caddy Beach camper.

VW gave the Caddy 4 a serious safety upgrade, adding systems such as City Emergency Braking, ACC Adaptive Distance Control and Driver Alert. By the end of 2019, VW had made around 722,000 units of the Caddy 4 – 63,225 of them sold in the UK.

VW Caddy 5: 2020 –

Unveiled in February 2020, fhe fifth-generation Caddy is indeed an all-new model. Built from the ground up on an all-new platform (the MQB), it brings a massive upgrade in technology, connectivity and safety.

Offered in Caddy, Cargo and Maxi form, the VW Caddy 5 boasts a loading space ranging from 3.3 to 4.0 cubic meters (116.5 – 141.2 cu ft). The new Caddy also marks a big step forward from a technological standpoint, offering the new ‘Innovision Cockpit’ with smartphone connectivity and a total of 19 driver assistance systems – six of which are new.