Almost everyone knows and shares some fondness for the iconic Volkswagen camper van. Unfortunately, most of us incorrectly think of these vans as little more than historic curiosities. The fact is, VW has been making modern versions of these vans all along - modern ones with LED lights and touch screen consoles and more. They just don't bring them to North America because they think you won't buy one. If you've ever admired a Mercedes sprinter van or other small camper, if you are simply a parent to a young family, a mini van owner who likes the idea of the occasional camping trip, a retiree, or anyone who wants to occasionally save on the cost of a hotel room, the latest incarnation from VW, the T-6.1 California will blow your mind (check out an excellent review here: https://www.motor1.com/reviews/374236/2020-volkswagen-t61-california-first-drive/), but VW won't bring them to North America because VW thinks they've got you figured out. Volkswagen thinks you won't buy one of their new vans. You don't want one, so VW won't even give you the opportunity to make that choice for yourself. It's time for us to demand that choice.

Have you ever noticed that there are still a LOT of these old VW camper vans on the road? The reason is that people who own them like them, a lot, and year after year they pump money into keeping these things running, often enhancing the features and uniqueness of each van as they do. These van are now so desirable that a well maintained model doesn't lose value and may even gain value over the life of its ownership. As far as interior design and space efficiency, these vans are simply the best. VW didn't just invent the camper can, they invented the VAN van. No kidding. It happened on April 23, 1947. However, like those Oatmeal Crisp ads from the 2000's, VW secretly knows their new van is awesome, "...but you wouldn't like it".

In fairness, they might have been right about you a decade ago. After all, you're a little older now and there was that whole SUV thing a while back, right? Volkswagen has said they need to sell 200,000 units to justify importing a given model to a new market. Industry standard, apparently. Fair enough. There are enormous costs associated with importing a vehicle to a new market. Everything is strictly regulated right down to the font size of the warning in your passenger-side mirror about objects being closer than they appear. Literally (look it up). So, you can't just bring a vehicle over here unless people will buy it. And since VW's are the best when it comes to small campers and the best things are rarely cheap, a VW California would be expensive here... perhaps in the area of $45K for a base model and up to 99K for a loaded model (in U.S. dollars). So, VW concluded we North Americans would choose to buy something else. We have all this space up here, they said, so we would buy big RV's, right?

Well, maybe. But will that big RV/trailer/fifth-wheel double as my daily driver or triple as my family minivan? No?

Things have changed in the last few years. There is an entire reality TV series about tiny home living. With the housing market pushing detached homes out of reach for many, people wanting privacy, and those concerned with leaving a smaller footprint in all aspects of their existence, are tuning into this programming and giving effect to it in their day to day existence, often living in and working remotely from vans while travelling the world. These realities have given birth to the massive #vanlife movement on youtube and other media attracting millions of followers every day. Wealthy boomers are retiring and cashing in on massive real estate gains. Mercedes and Dodge sales of standard vehicle sized campers such as the camperized Sprinter and Ram ProMaster are on the rise and, it can safely be said, are now a common site at campgrounds across this Continent and those things are NOT cheap - decent USED camperized Sprinters can run you $80K-$100K and good luck finding one that sleeps 4 like the VW California does.

It's time we let VW to revisit this issue. VW thinks they know us. Maybe it is time for us to speak up collectively and correct them.