{"id":8539,"date":"2016-03-21T17:02:15","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T17:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/?p=8539"},"modified":"2016-03-21T17:04:29","modified_gmt":"2016-03-21T17:04:29","slug":"volkswagen-converts-transporters-into-startup-office-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/8539","title":{"rendered":"Volkswagen converts Transporters into startup office space"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to research commissioned by Volkswagen from\u00a0the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR), van dependent\u00a0businesses contributed \u00a3120bn to the UK economy and travelled almost 102bn kilometres in 2014 alone.<\/p>\n

Apparently, the number of registered commercial\u00a0vehicles in the UK has risen<\/a> by 400%\u00a0since 2009,\u00a0suggesting\u00a0that the economic recovery has triggered a big surge in demand for\u00a0goods and services delivered by van.<\/p>\n

There’s also been a big shift to self employment. According to the CEBR,\u00a0there’s been a 17.5% rise in self employment since 2009. One million new businesses have registered over that period. By 2017, the CEBR expects there to be\u00a011.7m start-up businesses in the UK —\u00a0including 3.4m “pop-up experiences”.<\/p>\n

In an interesting new partnership, Volkswagen has joined forces with start-up loan specialists Startup Direct to offer\u00a0its network of businesses hot-desking space in two uniquely designed sixth-generation Transporter vans.<\/p>\n

\"Startup

Startup Direct’s ‘City Office’ van — a converted VW Transporter T6<\/p><\/div>\n

One is designed as a \u2018Creative Hub\u2019 complete with grass carpet and woodland to give the perfect ambience for brain-storming and idea generation. A whiteboard, beanbags and funky accessories complete the experience.<\/p>\n

\"Volkswagen-Startup<\/p>\n

The second, installed in a high-roof Transporter, is the \u2018Power Office\u2019: views of the City, leather chairs and a wooden desk allow any aspiring CEO to live the executive life \u2013 in the back of a van.<\/p>\n

\"Volkswagen-Startup<\/p>\n

Commenting on the research and event, Carl zu Dohna, Director of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles said:<\/p>\n

“Commercial vehicles play a huge role in start-up and small businesses and we’re proud to supply the future drivers of British business with vehicles that help to deliver their goods and services.<\/p>\n

“We admire the entrepreneurial minds of those in the UK who have continued to take risks and challenged traditional business industries in establishing exciting and forward-thinking new start-ups that use our vehicles. We know office space can often be at a premium; by working with Startup Direct we intend to offer individuals and businesses unique working spaces to inspire them.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’m not sure how many board meetings I’d want to attend in a van, but I suspect these promotional vehicles\u00a0will help to reinforce the Volkswagen Transporter’s enviable image as the coolest and most adaptable\u00a0medium van on the market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Volkswagen has converted two Transporter T6 vans into hot-desking office space for customers of startup financing business Startup Direct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[2002,1016,493],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8539"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8539"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8544,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8539\/revisions\/8544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}