Here at Van Guard we love the future. Often when we see a van of the future they look shiny and full of gizmo’s that would make a teenager’s bedroom look out of date. Technology appears to be transporting the commercial vehicle world into the 21^st century and beyond, which begs the question, where do the possibilities stop?

Recently, the world has been introduced to the (interestingly named at best) Volkswagen eT! Electric Transporter Concept, a van that has excited us greatly here. Being a concept van there is a large chance that this will never be made, but its potential features are very striking. Its two-stage sliding door opens to a second seat that is not a seat but in fact a joystick that can drive the van, obviously for when moving across to the actual seat seems like too much effort. It can also be controlled via voice commands, such as ‘follow me’ or ‘come to me’ where the van obediently obeys the controls of its master, much like a Jack Russell or Yorkshire Terrier does.

Above: They are not headlights, they are its eyes.

Vans do seem to become much more stylish and sporty in the way they look too. For instance, the go faster stripes on the new Ford Transit Sport match those you would have expected to find on a Ford Shelby GT, though they are not necessarily going to guarantee you to go faster. Vans are losing their box-like image and become smarter and sleeker, but where will it stop?

I have been having a few thoughts on what features the next sets of vans could incorporate. Voice commands are cool and very useful but surely a car that can hold a conversation would be better, I mean they did that in Knight Rider and that was in the 1980s. And living the Apple iPod era, when are the first ranges of Apple iVans coming? I am sure they could definitely do something about that boring steering wheel. But as long as they come fitted out with Van Guard roof racks, bulkheads, ply lining kits etc. there will be no complaints from this blog!

Above: A Shelby GT you say? No, this is actually a Transit. 

But what do you think about the future of vans? What would be the ideal gadget you would like in your van that would make life easier? And how come they could make Chitty Chitty Bang Bang fly in 1968 yet even the newest range of Mercedes Sprinters cannot even hover? All ideas on a postcard (or comment)!

Written by Matt Vanstone