Celebrating 20 years of the Volkswagen California Beach

Volkswagen is celebrating 20 years of the Swiss army knife of the VW Bus range. Perfectly suited for both family and work use, and permanently on standby for a weekend getaway or even a trip halfway round the world, the first generation of the VW California Beach was launched in 2005.

Originally launched as the Multivan Beach, the name was changed to the California Beach in 2007, and two decades, three generations, and countless technological updates later, it is still going strong.

In the summer of 2005, Volkswagen surprised everyone with the new Multivan Beach. With its bright orange paintwork and a couple of strategically placed surfboards on the roof, it immediately got you craving a trip to the nearest beach.

The Beach impressed from the outset with its cleverly designed interior. A rail system in the interior floor and side walls provided the basis for the camper van’s modular design, allowing components to be moved around easily, as well as extra seating to be added to carry more passengers. The flexible all-rounder quickly established itself as the entry-level model in Volkswagen’s camper range.

Two years later, along with the ‘California’ name change came the introduction of the pop-up roof option. The pop-up roof offered (and still offers) countless advantages: if you were travelling as a two, all you had to do was climb up when it was time for bed. Families with two or three children could now all sleep in the California together. And when the roof was folded up, the living area was tall enough to stand in – something that would usually only be possible in larger camper vans.

The optional pop-up roof proved so popular that VW decided to include it in the standard equipment package for the California Beach as part of a major product update.

The pop-up roof opened and closed manually as standard but could be operated with an automatic electro-hydraulic system as an option. Full panelling on the side walls and integrated roller blinds refined the interior, and VW also offered a new choice between the three-seater bench seat from the Multivan or the two-seater bench seat from the California Trendline. The updated models also added a new generation of infotainment systems.

The improvements also saw the old powertrain replaced with quieter and more economical turbodiesel engines, the latest DSG automatic dual clutch gearboxes, and a new generation of 4MOTION drives to ensure even better on- and off-road capability.

Second gen California Beach launches in 2015

Ten years after the first Beach, the second generation of the California Beach made its debut in summer 2015 based on the extensively enhanced sixth-generation T6 Transporter.

A redesigned front end with new headlights, new taillight clusters, new drive options, and the latest assistance and infotainment systems brought the VW California Beach right up to date. For the first time in decades, two-tone paint finishes were available again – a tribute to the original T1 camper – and the cotton bellows for the pop-up roof were now made of a synthetic material that was more waterproof and weather resistant. Within 12 months, the new bellows could also be specified in a range of colours rather than just the standard grey.

The California Beach took a further step forward in 2019 with the debut of the visually and technically enhanced T6.1 version. The highlight of the new California Beach Camper equipment package was a brand-new kitchenette, a stainless-steel element that offered a single-ring gas cooker on the left and a work and storage area on the right.

Another new feature on board all new California models was the touchscreen camper control panel that enabled users to control all camping-relevant functions such as the electro-hydraulic pop-up roof, the auxiliary heater, and living area lighting. The camper control unit also incorporated an electronic spirit level to make aligning the California perfectly horizontally on its parking space a piece of cake.

Latest generation California Beach launches

2024 saw the introduction of the current generation, the most cutting-edge California Beach of all time.

The latest California models are based on Volkswagen’s MQB platform, becoming even more spacious, smarter, more sophisticated, and more versatile. That’s on top of the latest powertrain, assistance, infotainment systems, and a new camper van architecture. This generation of the California Beach can even offer some of the benefits of an electric vehicle to anyone who opts for the plug-in hybrid all-wheel drive (eHybrid 4MOTION) version. In addition, for the first time ever, all California vehicles are equipped with two sliding doors as standard.

The latest VW California Beach is available to lease in three variants, Beach, Beach Tour, and Beach Camper.

The entry-level California Beach is essentially a Multivan with a manual pop-up roof. It offers six seats (2+2+2), with the individual seats in the second and third rows being removable to create extra space. It also includes the two beds in the pop-up roof as standard.

The California Beach Tour is equipped as standard with rotating and height-adjustable driver and front passenger seats, two camping chairs in the tailgate, a camping table, lighting in the pop-up roof, sliding windows in the left and right sliding doors and a brand-new camper van control unit. The five-seater California Beach Tour is equipped with three individual seats in the back row, and the backrests of the two outer rear seats can be folded back completely to create two additional sleeping spaces in the living area.

The California Beach Camper sits at the top of the Beach range, offering seating for five, an extremely compact mini-kitchen, and a 230-volt shore power connection. The kitchen module with single-ring gas cooker, cutlery drawer and additional storage space is permanently installed in the load compartment and is pulled out when the tailgate is open, which also comes in handy as a shelter if you’re trying to cook dinner in the rain.

And with leasing a California Beach you don’t have to pay a large deposit upfront and the monthly rentals make escaping … well, to the beach … more affordable. Time to follow your dreams, then…