It won't have a waterbed, shagorific wall carpeting or be filled with dirty, pachouli-doused hippies, but Volkswagen and DaimlerChrysler could produce a new VW-branded minivan for the US market. The Chrysler Voyager-based microbus, which could appear as early as 2007, would fill a gaping hole in VW's US line. Full details will likely be revealed at the Frankfurt show, but a German magazine writes the venture could add 30,000 production units to Chrysler's minivan plant, and notes (quite obviously) that the new van must retain enough VW-ness to distinguish it from its Chrysler platform mates. VW boss Wolfgang Bernhard, formerly COO of DaimlerChrysler — who recently was ruled out to head Mercedes — and DCX chief Dieter Zetsche will likely be burning the midnight oil to get the deal done in the next week or so.

VW: Talks with DaimlerChrysler confirmed! [The German Car Blog]

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Volkswagen Puts Upcoming Compact Off-Roader on Hold [internal]

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