Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV; , abbreviated VWN ) is a German marque of light commercial vehicles, owned by Volkswagen Group. It is headquartered in Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany. Originally part of Volkswagen Passenger Cars (business area), it has operated as a separate marque since 1995. Organizational structure Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is a marque, not a legal entity. Its activities are within Volkswagen's Commercial Vehicles Business Area, which also includes the activities of the Scania and MAN marques. The Scania and MAN marques are managed by Traton. Accordingly, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is an associate partner of Traton. History 1947 to 1960 In 1947, Volkswagen Dutch importer Ben Pon sketched a van based on Beetle components which became the legendary Type 2 Transporter range after seeing the Volkswagen Beetle-based Plattenwagen. In 1949, Volkswagen General Director Heinrich Nordhoff approved Ben Pon's sketch for production. In 1949, the first prototype was unveiled in Wolfsburg christened "Bulli"; on November 12 the production of Bulli was launched officially to the public. In 1950, full production began, and Bulli was renamed Type 2 Transporter due to "Bulli" being trademarked by another company. In 1954, Volkswagen celebrated production of 100,000th Type 2 Transporter at the Wolfsburg plant. In 1956, the first Type 2 Transporter rolled off the Hanover plant. 1960 to 1980 In 1962, the 1,000,000th Transporter left the production line in Hanover. In 1967, the second-generation Type 2 Transporter (T2) was released. In 1968, the 2,000,000th Transporter left the production line in Hanover. In 1975, the first generation of the "LastenTransporter" LT was released which opened the door to Volkswagen in the light truck sector. In 1977, the 4.5 millionth Transporter was produced. In 1978, a six cylinder diesel engine was introduced for the LT range in August expanding the range with the LT 40 and LT 45. In 1979, the third-generation Type 2 Transporter (T3) was released. 1980 to 1990 In 1980, a diesel engine was added to the Type 2 Transporter (T3) range. In 1981, Hanover celebrated 25 years of producing the Transporter range. In March, the 5 millionth unit was produced. Also in 1981, Volkswagen Caminhoes Ltd started building medium-sized trucks in Brazil. In 1982, Watercooled petrol engines (wasserboxer) were added to the German Transporter (T3) range. The Caddy Ute, which was based on the Golf, was launched to the public. In 1983, the luxurious Caravelle MPV was launched into the T3 range. In