The Volkswagen Transporter, based on the Volkswagen Group's T platform, now in its sixth generation, refers to a series of vans produced over 60 years and marketed worldwide.
The T series is now considered an official Volkswagen Group automotive platform. and generations are sequentially named T1, T2, T3, T4,T5 and T6. Pre-dating the T platform designations, the first three generations were named Type 2, indicating their relative position to the Type 1, or Beetle. As part of the T platform, the first three generations are retroactively named T1, T2 and T3.
The Transporter is the best-selling van in history with over 12 million units sold worldwide, and it comprises a gamut of variants including vans, minivans, minibuses, pick-ups, campervans. Competitors include the Ford Transit, Toyota Hiace and Mercedes-Benz Vito.
Initially derived from the Volkswagen Type 1 (Volkswagen Beetle), the Volkswagen Type 2 (T1) was the first generation of Volkswagen's Transporter family.
The Volkswagen T2 platform was marketed from 1967 through 1979 model years, with a Volkswagen Type 4 engine optionally available from 1972 on.
The Volkswagen Type 2 (T3), also known as the T25, or Vanagon in the United States, was one of the last new Volkswagen platforms to use an air-cooled engine. The Volkswagen air-cooled engine was succeeded by a water-cooled boxer engine (still rear-mounted) in 1983.