Volkswagen Neeza concept

By Phil McNamara/Georg Kacher

First Official Pictures

20 November 2006 09:00

VW Neeza concept: the lowdown

Volkswagen is developing a Ford S-Max rival – and this Neeza concept gives a clue to its thinking. Designed in China and unveiled at the Beijing motor show, the Neeza is a five-seat crossover MPV. And that's the exact concept that's under development by Volkswagen's R&D team, with a launch target of 2009. CAR Online has all the details of the production car, dubbed 'Sportvan' by insiders. The 4.85m-long space cruiser will land in the range between the Sharan II and the Phaeton saloon. It shares key components with today’s Audi A6 Avant, runs four- and six-cylinder engines and has two rows of seats. Expect the base car to cost a few quid less than £20,000. VW isn't the only company working on a crossover MPV. BMW also has a 5-series based people carrier in the pipeline. For more details and pictures of the Neeza concept, which is named after a hero from Chinese mythology, click next.

Let's be frank – the Neeza is a total Merc R-class knock-off. The overall concept, glasshouse and pumped up wheelarches echo the Merc's, as do the unusually small VW grille, headlamps and wraparound rear lamps. Volkswagen describes the Neeza as a cross between sports coupe and an estate with an off-road appearance – which is pretty much how Merc pitches the R-class. Surely VW's production car will look a lot sexier, though, especially considering the 'slow start' Benz sources admit the ugly R-class has made. That's certainly the view of VW's designers, who are buzzing about the Sportvan (codenamed VW518). One source described it as dynamic and elegant – ‘an R-class that really works’. Visually, Wolfsburg’s new niche model is less slab-sided than the Touran but nowhere near as ornamental as Merc’s R-class. As for its size, the Sportvan is pretty close to the six-seater Merc.

By Phil McNamara/Georg Kacher