JetSetterJoe.com

I recently came upon a new concept vehicle from Volkswagen that hit the blogosphere last September. The VW Atacama Camper Concept is based on Volkswagen’s Crafter van, which is not available in the US, but is in the same class as the Mercedez Benz Sprinter. What makes this concept interesting is that it features 4WD, a reflection of the manufacturer’s realization that the RV market is becoming younger and more active.

As a Volkswagen fanatic, I was salivating a few years back when VW unveiled a new micobus concept vehicle at the 2001 North American auto show. The vehicle-designed by VW’s North American design studio, which brought us the new beetle-featured what seemed to be a camper configuration with a hard-sided pop-up. Hard-sided pop-ups are rare enough but, when coupled with a vehicle with buckets of character like the microbus, this concept was extremely appealing to me for economy of space and aesthetics have always ranked high on my book alongside utility.

Despite this, the micro-bus concept, hasn’t materialized yet. Additionally, I always had doubts as to whether a production microbus would have the utility of the old VW Westfalia camper minus the poor reliability or if it would just be a gimmicky vehicle with little substance and nothing but cuteness going for it. The Atacama concept seems to be much more of a truck targeted to real enthusiasts with 4WD and a diesel engine while still retaining youthful modern styling (even if I, personally, am not thrilled about the futuristic C-shaped window). VW has done this once before with the Touareg, which features sophisticated styling, creature comforts and on-road performance but is a real SUV with decent towing capacity and off-road ability. Reliability on the later Touareg models has gotten better but still leaves much to be desired as even VW die-hards such as myself have to admit.

It is not clear whether VW will ever bring the Atacama concept to production or if it ever will be available in the US. If it does and VW follows the same philosophy as with the Touareg (and addresses the reliability and service issues that have plagued several models lately) it will no doubt be a hit among the active RV crowd. In that case, I would probably be in line as one of the first to buy one (well… I may wait a couple of years until they work out the bugs). In the meantime, a V6 Touareg towing a lighweigth travel trailer such as the Cabin A, is the closest I can come to a modern VW “adventurewagen”.