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The Volkswagen Type 2 or Transporter (or more popularly known as the Bus) is generally considered to be the ancestor of the passenger and cargo van. Taking after the VW Beetle (Type 1), the Bus was introduced in 1950. It sparked a wave of imitators like the Ford Econoline, the Dodge A100 and the Chevrolet Corvan, which even sported some utilities similar to VW bus parts like its rear-mounted engine.

The Bus' basic idea is generally credited to a Dutch VW importer, Ben Pon, who in 1947 began drawing a series of designs for the van. The first design was not aerodynamic enough, but was soon improved on the wind-tunnels of Technical University of Braunschweig. Three years later, the more aerodynamic van began to roll out of VW's Wolfsburg production plant.

The Type 2 soon assumed many variations of the basic VW bus parts configuration. Among them were: Delivery van without side windows or rear seats (Panel Van); Delivery van with raised roof (High Roof Panel Van), or Hochdach; Van with side windows and removable rear seats (Kombi, from German Kombinationskraftwagen (combination vehicle), i.e. both a passenger and a cargo vehicle combined); Van with more comfortable interior reminiscent of passenger cars (Bus; also called Caravelle since the third generation); Van with skylight windows and cloth sunroof (Samba-Bus, first generation only; also called Deluxe Microbus); Flatbed truck (Pick-up), or Single Cab, also available with wider load bed; Flatbed truck, Double Cab, with two rows of seats (Crew Cab Pick-up); Camping van (Westy; with Westfalia roof and interior); and semi-camping van that can also still be used as a passenger car and transporter, sacrificing some camping comforts (Multivan, or Weekender, available from the third generation on).