With all-wheel-drive 4Motion versions of Caddy and Transporter and a newly introduced 4Motion Crafter off-roader in its portfolio too, the company has the bulk of the sector covered, he contends.

“We’re the only manufacturer to offer such a broad range and I think that gives us a distinct advantage,” he said.

Nor are its 4x4s being sold in small numbers. “If you throw in leisure models such as the Caddy Maxi 4Motion Tramper mobile home, then annual sales total around 90,000 units and we’re sure volumes will increase,” Mr. Wattenberg stated.

To set that figure in context, the company delivered almost 529,000 Caddies, Caddy Maxis, Transporters, Crafters and Amaroks of all types worldwide last year. That was a rise of 21.4% on 2010’s performance (436,000 units), with the sharpest sales increases witnessed in South America, Central and Eastern Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Operating profit rose from €217m to €449m.

Volkswagen has recognised that there is a high level of corporate demand for 4×4 light commercials.

A large percentage of sales are made to fleet operators in countries that experience heavy snowfalls at certain times of the year and have a lot of hilly terrain.

“While they may not need to venture off road, they need enough traction to keep going on slippery highways when they are fully-laden,” Mr. Wattenberg said. That is because they offer services – everything from postal deliveries to emergency medical care – that have to be delivered in almost all weather conditions.

The Swiss Post Office is a prime example of the sort of customer Mr. Wattenberg means. In 2010 it acquired over 500 4Motion Caddies.

“Switzerland is in fact our fifth-biggest market for 4Motion Caddy,” he said. “The biggest of the lot is Germany, with Norway, Austria and Sweden in second, third and fourth place respectively.”

Germany is the largest market for 4Motion Transporter too, followed by Austria, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland in descending order. “The UK is in tenth place,” he remarked.

The ability to offer so many 4×4 models opens doors for VW when it comes to approaching fleets, the bulk of whose requirement is 4×2 but with some all-wheel-drive capability. Once through those doors VW can talk to the company concerned about satisfying all its light commercial needs.

“Do our 4×4 vans and pick-ups represent a useful sales tool? Of course they do,” said Mr. Wattenberg.

Despite its vast in-house resources, VW is not afraid to enlist the help of third party specialists when it comes to 4×4 vehicle development.

The new Crafter 4Motion has been devised by Austrian engineering group Achleitner. Starting out in the early 1930s as a blacksmith’s shop, and still family owned, it has its headquarters at Wörgl and a factory in Radfeld, both in the Tyrol.

Aside from 4×4 models, it produces everything from military vehicles and security vans to trailers for the Red Bull Formula 1 team.

Aimed at customers who regularly need to drive off-highway into rough terrain – utilities, construction companies, government departments such as the Republic of Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency for example – the 4×4 Crafter is produced solely with the 163hp version of VW’s widely-used 2.0-litre diesel.

Power is split permanently 50/50 between the front and back axles with an electric differential lock standard on the centre transfer box and a pneumatic differential lock mounted on the back axle.

“Not only can it take you off the beaten track, it can take you to places where there is no track at all,” said Mr. Wattenberg.

An air tank and a compressor providing up to 8 bar of pressure have been installed and a pneumatic differential lock can be fitted to the front axle as an option. Left-hand-drive models are already in production and VW and Achleitner are hoping to start building right-hand-drive versions to satisfy demand in markets such as the UK, South Africa and Australia.

“Potential customers in Australia include mining companies and tourism firms running excursions into the outback,” said Achleitner 4×4 sales specialist, Andreas Reich.

Higher ground clearance means that at 770mm, 4Motion Crafter van’s rear loading height is 100mm greater than the 670mm offered by the standard model. A drawback however is the cost – you pay a premium of almost €20,000 – not to mention the 3.5-tonner’s restricted payload capacity of approximately 1,000kg, although a 5.0-tonne gross 4Motion Crafter can be specified by those who need to carry more weight.

The pretty-much-all-terrain Crafter is sold in dropside and nine-seater window van variants as well as with a van body and with short (3,250mm), medium (3,665mm) and long (4,325mm) wheelbases. It can be ordered as either a single-cab or a double-cab chassis too.

Equally eager to establish its credentials in the rough is the Rockton version of the 4Motion Transporter, which has more ground clearance than the ordinary 4Motion: 254mm compared with 201mm.

One rung up from the Rockton is the Rockton Expedition, with 16ins all-terrain tyres on strengthened steel wheels and increased traction when the gearbox is switched to off-road mode. An optional protection pack contains under-body guards for the engine, gearbox, fuel tank, sills, rear diff and main silencer.

One rung up from that is the 4Motion Transporter based Multivan PanAmericana, with 17-inch wheels, a mechanical rear differential lock and reinforced springs and shock absorbers.

Anxious to tailor 4Motion Transporter to bespoke fleet needs, Volkswagen can equip the dropside model with a roll bar mounted behind the cab and a 0.7kW cable winch fed by a second battery. Mounted on the cargo bed, it has a pulling power of 1,360kg.

While Amarok is at present sold solely with the aforementioned 2.0-litre diesel, Mr. Wattenberg would not rule out the possibility of a bigger engine being introduced to satisfy the aspirations of certain markets, including South Africa. In the meantime, a 180hp 2.0-litre Amarok double cab has been introduced with an eight-speed automatic gearbox offering a greater spread of transmission ratios than a conventional automatic transmission.

A two-door single cab has joined the four-door double-cab line-up too.

With an eye to the desire of fleet customers to cut their carbon footprint, Wattenberg points out that the automatic Amarok comes with Stop/Start and Blue Motion Technology. As a consequence the CO2 emission figure is an, in context modest, 199g/km.

The automatic is offered only on double-cabs with permanent rather than selectable four-wheel-drive.

Key production countries for VW’s 4×4 light commercial line-up are Germany, Poland and Argentina. Production of right-hand-drive Amaroks is however being shifted from Argentina to VW’s Hanover, Germany factory at the end of June to provide much-needed extra capacity to meet demand: Amarok takes the lion’s share of VW’s international 4×4 light commercial sales.