Volkswagen Releases Sporty Transporter Sportline In Europe

VW's commercial arm have made a 'hotter' Sportline version of its staple Transporter light commercial van.

It appears that German automaking powerhouse Volkswagen is jumping on the sporty van bandwagon and trend. Recently, the firm’s commercial vehicles arm have released a sporty special version of its famed and popular Transporter van model.

Christened as the Sportline guise, the treatment brings key additions like a full aerokit, snazzy 19-inch alloy wheels plus lowered suspension setup. Serving as the new range-topper, said sporty additions come on top of a fully-loaded list of standard features.

In essence, if you ever wondered how the Transporter could look like should ‘borrow’ and adopt sporty aesthetics as seen in its Golf GTI hot hatch cousin, you’d probably be picturing it as how the Sportline looks like in the featured images here.

Note the special red model script badging brimmed in the tailgate, as well as the split rear spoiler primed up top.

Notably, this isn’t the first time that VW endowed such a sporty treatment to its Transporter van – the firm did a similar effort for the model’s previous T6.1 generation version, which also carried the ‘Sportline’ name and badging.

In both instances, we see VW donning its Transporter van with a unique ‘dogbone style’ bumper intakes, followed by gloss back grille surround trims. The firm even added red stripes across the front, which harks back to the Golf GTI hot hatch’s signature look.

Other key additions here include a new set of 19-inch rolling stock featuring a diamond-cut finish. The lowered ride height comes courtesy of a special Eibach lowering springs, which lowers this van’s ride height by 29 MM in total.

Special 19-inch wheels feature a diamond-cut finish, and they're mounted on equally suspension brimmed with special Eibach lowering springs.

At the rear, the Sportline treatment brings a new and more pronounced rear bumper, followed by special red ‘Transporter’ model letter-script badge, plus a split-roof rear spoiler element added on.

The Sportline treatment continues on boards with ‘eco-leather’ seat trims featuring red contrast-stitching motif plus embossed logos. Other additions here include illuminated metal scuff plates, light-up vanity mirrors, heated leather steering wheel, and more.

Reports further indicate buyers in Europe – where the Transporter model primarily sells best in – can opt between Panel Van and Kombi versions of which, both offering two different wheelbase lengths.

Despite the sporty styling, the Sportline treatment for the VW Transporter not brings no powertrain upgrades. Instead, buyers can only choose between the standard diesel, plug-in hybrid (PHEV) or battery electric (BEV) setups available.

To sate your curiosity, the peppiest of the lot is the e-Transporter BEV setup, which boats 286 PS – in contrast, it only edges the Golf GTI in terms of output as said hot hatch puts out a claimed 265 PS instead.