The VW Grand California Dune, and why Britain can't buy it yet

There's a version of the VW Grand California that's painted the colour of a winter beach, wears black wheels and chunky grey cladding, has "DUNE" written above the windscreen and a little compass etched into the side window, and comes with the camping chairs already in the boot. It's called the Dune, it looks terrific, and you can walk into a dealer in Germany or Austria and order one today.

You cannot, however, buy one in Britain. And when a UK motoring title asked Volkswagen directly whether that might change, the answer wasn't a flat no, it was a shrug and a maybe. So this is a piece about a van you can't have, why you can't have it, and whether that's actually fair, because the more you look at it, the odder the gap becomes. We've also contacted Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles UK to ask the question straight, and we'll update this piece if and when they come back to us. First, though, what exactly is the thing we're being denied?

What the Grand California Dune actually is

The Dune is a special edition of VW's Grand California, the big, Crafter-based coachbuilt motorhome (the proper one with a fixed washroom and a permanent bed, not the pop-top Californias). It arrived for the 2026 model year, unveiled at the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf at the end of August 2025, and it's best described as adventure-styled. Hold that phrase; we'll come back to how much is style and how much is substance, because honesty matters more than hype.

Start with the way it looks, because that's the point of it. The Dune gets an exclusive solid paint colour, "Ascot Grey", a pale, chalky grey that VW says is inspired by "the colours of the dunes on Europe's beaches and Africa's deserts". (Some English coverage called it beige; the German descriptions are clear that it's a light chalk-grey, and that's what it is.) On top of that sit 17-inch "Lismore" alloy wheels in gloss black, "DUNE" lettering on both sides of the roof and above the windscreen, a compass motif worked into the sliding-door window line, and anthracite-grey rugged plastic on the bumpers and side strips in place of body colour. The overall effect is genuinely handsome, understated and outdoorsy rather than shouty, and a world away from the slightly clinical white most big motorhomes wear.

Inside, the Dune leans into the same theme with "Atami Bamboo" wood-effect surfaces on the table and kitchen, durable PVC flooring through the kitchen, living area and load space, blackout blinds, luggage nets in the upper lockers, ambient lighting between the cabinets, and a clever reworked table that detaches and clips onto the outside of the kitchen unit so you can cook and eat in the open. There's a set of California camping chairs and a table thrown in, too.

Here's a point of accuracy worth making, because it's the sort of detail that gets garbled: a good chunk of that interior, the bamboo-effect décor, the PVC floor, the detachable table, the new digital cockpit and electronic parking brake, the updated driver-assistance, is actually part of the 2026 update to the whole Grand California range, not unique to the Dune. The genuinely Dune-exclusive bits are the Ascot Grey paint, the black Lismore wheels, the anthracite cladding, the DUNE and compass graphics, the bundled camping kit, and a package price advantage of up to around €3,623 over speccing the same kit individually. That's not a criticism, it's just what you're actually buying: a very well-judged styling-and-value package on top of an already-updated van.

On safety and equipment, the Dune comes with VW's "Advanced Assist" package as standard: adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, Travel Assist active lane-keeping, Emergency Assist, a predictive speed limiter, full LED headlights, a rear-view camera, electrically folding mirrors and automatic climate control. For a vehicle this size, that's a reassuring amount of standard kit.

The Dune at a glance

Let's be honest: it's adventure-styled, not an expedition truck

Before we argue for bringing the Dune to Britain, we have to be straight about what it is and isn't, because overselling it would do nobody any favours, least of all you.

The Dune is powered by a 2.0-litre TDI diesel with 163 PS and an eight-speed automatic. (Worth noting if you're comparing with older road tests: that's down a little from the 177 hp the pre-update Grand California offered.) Crucially, VW's 4MOTION all-wheel drive is an option, not standard, and so is a rear differential lock. The all-wheel-drive system is a Haldex-type setup that runs as front-drive most of the time and sends torque rearwards, up to a 50:50 split, when it senses slip, adding around 130kg in the process.

What the Dune does not have is any suspension lift or all-terrain tyres. German magazine promobil, which tested a 4MOTION example in Spanish mud, was clear about this: it's a soft-roader with optional traction, not a lifted expedition vehicle. The genuine capability is real but modest, the optional 4MOTION and diff-lock will get you confidently across a wet grass field, a muddy forest track or a slippery slipway where a front-drive motorhome would scrabble and bog. They will not take you rock-crawling. If you came expecting a Mercedes-Crafter-based 4x4 overland build, this isn't that, and the honest framing, "a beautifully styled, slightly more capable Grand California", is both more accurate and, we'd argue, more appealing to the people who'd actually buy one.

It's worth understanding what the optional all-wheel drive really buys you, because it's the one bit of genuine substance under the styling. The Haldex-type system spends most of its life driving the front wheels, like any front-drive motorhome, and only wakes the rear axle when it detects the fronts starting to slip. That's exactly the right tool for the situations a touring camper actually meets: a wet, rutted field at a festival, a muddy farm pitch, a slimy concrete slipway, a forest track softened by rain. In all of those, a front-drive motorhome can sit there spinning while you go red in the face, and the 4MOTION Dune will simply crawl out. What it won't do is climb a mountainside, because the ground clearance and tyres are still those of a road vehicle. There's a weight cost too: the system adds around 130kg, which matters because it eats into payload and, on the heavier 680, keeps you firmly in C1-licence territory. For a lot of buyers the front-drive Dune will be all they ever need; for anyone who regularly pitches off hard standing, the 4MOTION option is the box worth ticking, and it's a box VW already lets British buyers tick on the standard van.

That honesty matters for the UK argument, too, because it means the Dune isn't some exotic engineering project that would be hard to bring here. It's mostly paint, trim and an optional driveline VW already sells. Keep that in your back pocket.

Where you can buy it, and where you can't

The Dune is on sale in Germany, confirmed by German dealer stock and the trade press, and in Austria, where Volkswagen's own national site has a dedicated Dune configurator page. It was launched as a Europe-facing model at Europe's biggest motorhome show, and it's been covered as a European release across the continent. It is not sold in the United States (the Grand California isn't a US-market vehicle at all), and, the reason we're here, it is not offered in the United Kingdom.

On price, the German figures are €88,964 for the front-wheel-drive 600 and €91,886 for the 680, with 4MOTION adding an estimated €6,000 to €7,000 on top. Resist the urge to convert those straight into a UK expectation, though. At the exchange rate as we write, €88,964 is roughly £75,000, but German and UK pricing almost never line up directly once you account for VAT differences, exchange rates and how each market positions the vehicle. For reference, the standard Grand California already costs around £85,000 in Britain. So a UK Dune, if it ever arrives, would most likely be priced in line with or above that £85,000 mark, not the flattering converted German number. We mention the euro prices for completeness, not as a UK forecast.

The UK question: what VW actually said

Here's the heart of it, and we're going to be careful with the facts because it would be easy, and wrong, to turn this into "VW refuses to sell Britain the good stuff".

When Practical Motorhome asked Volkswagen's UK press office, at the Dune's launch in September 2025, whether it would be offered to UK customers, the answer on the record was that VW "was unable to say if the Dune is going to be offered to UK customers", but that it "was hopeful this would be possible in the future". That's the only official UK statement we can find, and it's worth reading precisely. It is not a confirmation. It is not a refusal. It's a genuine "we don't know yet, and we'd like to".

The Dune does not appear anywhere on the official Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles UK Grand California pages, which list only the standard 600 and 680. So as things stand, you cannot order one here. But, and this is the bit we want to be scrupulous about, we have found no statement that the Dune is left-hand-drive only, no statement of any hard UK exclusion, and no mention of a numbers cap. Anyone telling you definitively why it isn't here is guessing, and so, to a degree, are we. What we can do is look at what's plausible, and at one argument that's much stronger than the rest.

The right-hand-drive question (and why it isn't the answer)

The instinctive explanation for any "Europe gets it, Britain doesn't" story is right-hand drive: surely it's just too much faff to engineer the thing for our side of the road. Except that explanation falls apart almost immediately here.

The standard Grand California is already sold in right-hand drive in the United Kingdom. Every UK road test of it is of a right-hand-drive vehicle. VW already homologates, builds and sells this exact van, in RHD, for British buyers. More than that, VW UK already offers 4MOTION on the standard Grand California here. So the Dune's mechanical package, the thing that would actually be hard to re-engineer, is not novel for Britain at all. It's already on the menu.

Which means the Dune, stripped to what makes it a Dune, is a paint colour, a set of wheels, some cladding, a few graphics and a bundle of camping gear, sitting on a van VW already sells here in right-hand drive with the optional driveline already available. That is about as low as the engineering barrier gets for a "new" model. The honest conclusion is that the reasons the Dune isn't here are far more likely to be commercial, low-volume product planning, deciding which of Europe's many special editions are worth the homologation paperwork and marketing effort for the smaller UK market, than anything technical. We'll flag that as our informed reading rather than a quote from VW, but it's a reading the facts support well.

What Britain can buy: the standard Grand California

To be fair to VW, it's not as if the Grand California is some forbidden fruit here. The standard van is very much on sale, and it's worth understanding, both because it's the thing you can actually have and because it frames what the Dune would add.

It comes in two lengths. The 600 is the higher-roofed one, around six metres, with a transverse rear double bed and the option of a pull-down bed over the cab, which makes it a genuine four-berth and the natural family choice. The 680 is the longer, lower-roofed one, with a big lengthways rear bed and more storage but no over-cab bed, so it sleeps two. One important practical wrinkle: the 680 comes only at a 3,880kg weight, which needs a C1 licence to drive, while the 600 sits at 3,500kg (drivable on an ordinary car licence) unless you option it up. A 4MOTION Dune would sit in that same heavier bracket, so the licence question would follow it.

UK prices run from around £85,000 for the 600 to around £88,000 for the 680, and, as noted, 4MOTION is already offered. It's built on the VW Crafter in Poland, and it remains VW's only factory coachbuilt motorhome with a proper fixed wet-room and permanent bed. In other words, Britain gets the serious version of this van. We just don't get the pretty, outdoorsy, keenly-bundled edition of it, which is precisely the one a lot of people would actually want.

What British buyers reach for instead

Here's the thing that turns this from a niche grumble into a real argument: the demand the Dune would satisfy is already being satisfied, just not by Volkswagen, and not without compromise. When the factory won't sell you a good-looking, slightly-rugged, ready-to-go adventure camper, you do one of three things, and British buyers are doing all three in numbers.

The first is to grey-import a left-hand-drive Dune from the continent. It's entirely possible, plenty of European editions reach British driveways this way, but you take on the registration paperwork, the left-hand-drive compromise on our roads, and the question marks around warranty and servicing that come with a vehicle the local network didn't sell. People do it because they want the thing badly enough. That's demand, leaking abroad.

The second is to go bespoke. Britain has a thriving industry of specialists converting Mercedes Sprinters, VW Crafters and MAN TGEs into genuinely capable, adventure-styled, often 4x4 campers, names like APE Adventure Vans, Project Yonder and Voyage Adventure Vans among them. These builds are frequently superb, but they're also expensive, slow to order, and, by definition, not a warrantied factory product. Buyers accept all of that because the factories haven't been offering enough of what they want. That's demand, being met by other people's businesses.

The third is to buy a rival's adventure camper instead. The market is increasingly well served at the rugged end by the likes of the Burstner Habiton 4x4 and others, and would-be buyers of an adventure-flavoured VW are perfectly capable of taking their money to a competitor that will actually sell them one. Every one of those sales is a Grand California Dune that VW didn't sell. When you add the three routes together, the picture is unambiguous: the appetite for exactly this kind of van is large, visible and currently being directed almost everywhere except a VW showroom. That's not a reason to deny the Dune to Britain. It's the single best reason to bring it.

If you can't wait: the realistic import route

For anyone who simply wants a Dune and isn't prepared to wait on VW UK's "maybe", importing one is genuinely possible, though it's worth going in with eyes open. You'd buy a left-hand-drive example from a dealer in Germany, Austria or elsewhere on the continent, arrange transport or drive it home, and then register it here, which means an application to the DVLA, paying any VAT and duty due, an individual approval check, and sorting UK-spec plates and lighting. None of that is insurmountable, and specialist import agents will handle most of the paperwork for a fee.

The compromises are real, though. It will be left-hand drive, which on British roads is a daily niggle at overtakes and toll booths even if it's not a dealbreaker. Warranty and recall handling can be more awkward for a vehicle the UK network didn't sell, though VW's warranties usually carry a European dimension worth confirming case by case. And resale down the line means selling a left-hand-drive import back into a right-hand-drive market, which narrows your pool of buyers. For some people, none of that outweighs getting the exact van they want, and they'll happily do it. For most, it's a neat illustration of why a simple "yes, in right-hand drive, from your local dealer" would be so much better, and why it's worth asking VW for exactly that.

Where the Dune sits in VW's camper world

It helps to place the Dune in the wider range, partly because it's easy to get VW's many "Californias" tangled.

The Grand California (the Dune's base) is the big Crafter-based coachbuilt. Separately, there's the famous smaller California, now built on the Multivan platform, in Beach, Coast and Ocean trims, which is the pop-top camper most people picture. That smaller California is the one available as a plug-in-hybrid eHybrid; importantly, there is no electrified Grand California, so don't let anyone tell you the Dune has a hybrid option, it doesn't. And looming over all of it is the promised electric camper based on the ID. Buzz, which VW has discussed but not yet put into production.

It's worth a quick tour of the prices, because they frame where the Dune would sit. The smaller Multivan-based California spans roughly £63,000 for an entry Beach, through the Coast at around £69,000, to the top Ocean at around £76,000 to £79,000, with the plug-in-hybrid eHybrid 4Motion version, the one with electric all-wheel drive and around 50 miles of electric range, from about £78,000. The big Grand California, the Dune's base, starts higher again at around £85,000 for the 600. The fully electric ID. California, when it eventually arrives, is expected in the second half of the decade, realistically 2027 or later, and remains an unconfirmed quantity on price and range. So the Dune slots in as a styling-and-equipment edition of VW's most expensive, most serious factory camper, at the premium, aspirational end of an already premium range. That positioning, top of the range, image-leading, photogenic, is exactly the kind of product that usually earns its place in a line-up, which makes leaving it out of one market all the more curious.

Seen in that context, the diesel, optionally-all-wheel-drive, adventure-styled Grand California Dune is arguably the most expedition-flavoured factory camper VW currently makes. As the rest of the range tilts towards hybrid and electric and town-friendly, the Dune is the one that leans the other way, towards getting away from it all. Which makes its absence from a Britain that's mad for exactly that kind of van all the more conspicuous.

What it's like to drive and live with

We haven't driven a Dune ourselves, so take this as a picture assembled from the spec and from the European road tests rather than our own verdict. The 163 PS diesel and eight-speed automatic are a known, well-liked combination in the Crafter, smooth and relaxed rather than quick, and entirely happy to cover big distances; quoted economy of around 8 to 9 litres per 100km works out to roughly 30 miles per gallon, reasonable for a vehicle of this size and weight. The Crafter cab is one of the better big-van environments, car-like and well-equipped, and the standard driver-assistance suite takes the strain out of motorway miles.

On the rough stuff, promobil's test of a 4MOTION example in Spanish mud is the most useful real-world reference, and its takeaway was consistent with everything else here: with the all-wheel drive and diff-lock working, the Dune pulled through terrain that would have stranded a front-drive motorhome, while never pretending to be a rock-crawler. As a thing to live in, it's a Grand California, which is to say a properly sorted coachbuilt with a fixed rear bed, a real wet-room, a proper kitchen and the build quality you'd expect from a factory product rather than a conversion. The Dune's own contribution to daily life is mostly in the details that make outdoor living nicer: the detachable table you can set up outside, the blackout blinds, the camping chairs ready to go, the durable wipe-clean floor for sandy feet and muddy boots. None of it is revolutionary. All of it is the sort of thoughtful, lived-with touch that quietly makes you want one. Which brings us back to the problem: wanting one, in Britain, is currently as far as you can get.

VW has always had an adventure itch

None of this is out of character for Volkswagen. The California name has been on camping VWs since the late 1980s, and the brand's whole modern identity is bound up with the idea of the van as a passport to the outdoors. More to the point, VW has repeatedly built genuinely adventurous editions when it's wanted to. The previous-generation California offered factory 4Motion all-wheel drive and, in "Beach Tour" guise, paired it with a differential lock and a camping bundle aimed squarely at people heading off the beaten track; some owners have built those into serious expedition vehicles. Go further back and there are concepts like the Crafter-based Atacama 4WD, and the PanAmericana rugged styling VW now applies across the Multivan, Caddy, Amarok and the latest Transporter.

In other words, the appetite, the engineering and the design language for an adventure-flavoured camper have been part of VW's make-up for decades. The Dune isn't a wild departure; it's VW doing something it has always done well, dressing a camper for the wild and selling the daydream. Which makes the idea of withholding it from one of its most camper-obsessed markets feel less like deliberate strategy and more like an oversight waiting to be corrected.

The bigger picture: the editions Europe gets and Britain doesn't

The Dune isn't an isolated case so much as the latest, most photogenic example of a familiar pattern: a special edition or model variant that's freely available across mainland Europe takes its time reaching Britain, or never arrives at all. Sometimes there's a genuine engineering reason, a left-hand-drive-only build, or a feature that can't be homologated here. Often, though, it comes down to cold arithmetic: Britain is a smaller, right-hand-drive island market, and putting a low-volume edition through UK type approval, pricing, marketing and dealer training costs money that only pays back if enough people buy it. Faced with that sum, the importer's safest move is to bring the core range and skip the specials.

You can understand the logic and still think it's the wrong call here, for one simple reason we keep coming back to: the usual barriers don't really apply to the Dune. It isn't left-hand-drive only. It doesn't need a feature Britain can't have. The base van and even its signature 4MOTION option are already sold here in right-hand drive. So the Dune falls into the most frustrating category of all, the edition Britain misses not because it can't be done, but because someone decided it wasn't worth the paperwork. That's a decision, not a law of physics, and decisions can be revisited, especially when buyers make enough noise to shift the arithmetic.

There's a slightly bigger principle hiding in here, too. Britain didn't just adopt the campervan; for decades it half-defined the culture around it. To be the market that's quietly told "not this one" while the continent gets the keys is a strange place for a nation of camper enthusiasts to end up. It's the kind of gap that's easy for a manufacturer to overlook precisely because the people it affects tend to grumble privately and then buy something else, rather than asking out loud.

The case for bringing the Dune to Britain

So here's the argument, made as fairly as we can, for VW turning that "hopeful" into a "yes".

First, and most powerfully, the barrier is tiny. As we've established, VW already sells the Grand California in right-hand drive here, already offers its 4MOTION here, and the Dune is overwhelmingly a styling-and-equipment package on top of that. This isn't a clean-sheet engineering ask; it's a trim-level decision. The hard part is already done.

Second, the demand is plainly there. Britain's appetite for adventure-styled and 4x4 campervans has been growing for years, and a whole industry of UK specialists has sprung up to feed it, converting Sprinters, Crafters and MAN TGEs into rugged off-grid tourers because the factories haven't been offering enough of them. A factory-built, fully-warrantied, adventure-look Grand California, with the option of real all-wheel drive, answers that demand without the risk and the long waits of a bespoke conversion.

Third, it plugs a gap VW is currently leaving to others. Right now, a British buyer who wants that look and that capability in a big coachbuilt has to go to an independent converter, or grey-import a left-hand-drive Dune from the continent. Every one of those is a sale VW's own showrooms don't make, and a customer VW hands to someone else. For a brand that has spent decades building the campervan dream as part of its identity, ceding the most evocative corner of it seems a strange choice.

Fourth, the business case isn't as marginal as "it's only the UK" makes it sound. Right-hand-drive Grand Californias already sell here, so there's a proven, if modest, audience, and the Dune is a margin-friendly package, premium paint and wheels carry good margins, on a line VW already runs. It's the kind of low-risk, high-desirability edition that tends to do well precisely because it photographs beautifully and sells itself.

Fifth, there's the halo. As VW electrifies the smaller California and teases the ID. Buzz camper, the Dune is the brand's most romantic, most aspirational adventure statement. Offering it here would keep VW's camper halo bright against the converters and imports, at a moment when that halo is doing a lot of work for the brand.

Put those five together and the cumulative case is unusually strong. This isn't a plea to engineer something new, to gamble on an untested concept, or to drag a left-hand-drive-only oddity across the Channel. It's a request to add a paint colour, a set of wheels and a badge pack to a van VW already builds in right-hand drive, for a market visibly hungry for exactly that van, much of which is currently buying it from someone else or importing it grey. The downside risk is small; the upside is a desirable, margin-friendly, halo-burnishing edition and a clutch of sales VW is otherwise waving goodbye to. For a product this cheap to enable and this easy to sell, "not yet" starts to look like a surprisingly expensive answer.

The fair counterpoint

We promised honesty, so here's the other side, because a one-eyed rant convinces no one.

The Dune is, as we've said, a cosmetic special rather than a true expedition vehicle. Nobody should pretend Britain is being denied a hardcore overlander; it's being denied a very nicely dressed version of a van it can already buy. Homologating and marketing a low-volume edition genuinely does cost money, and VW UK has to choose which of Europe's many specials are worth that effort for a smaller market, that's a real commercial judgement, not obvious obstinacy. And, the crucial bit, VW UK didn't say no. It said it was hopeful. So the honest ask here isn't "stop blocking Britain", because there's no evidence VW is. It's "you've already done the hard part, the demand is here, please confirm it and bring it sooner rather than later". That's a reasonable thing to want, and a reasonable thing to ask for out loud.

We've asked VW. Here's what happens next

Because we'd rather report VW's actual position than speculate about it, we've contacted Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles UK's press office to ask, plainly, whether the Grand California Dune will be offered to UK customers, and if not, why not. If they reply, we'll add their response here in full, because the fairest thing we can do is let them speak for themselves.

In the meantime, if you'd buy a right-hand-drive Grand California Dune tomorrow, that's exactly the sort of thing manufacturers pay attention to. Demand that's visible gets answered; demand that stays quiet gets overlooked. If you've looked longingly at the continental press shots and wished you could order one here, you're not alone, and saying so is the single most useful thing a would-be buyer can do.

Frequently asked questions

Is the VW Grand California Dune available in the UK?

No. As of now it doesn't appear on Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles UK's Grand California range, which lists only the standard 600 and 680. When asked directly, VW UK said it was "unable to say" whether the Dune would be offered here, but that it was "hopeful this would be possible in the future". So it's not on sale, not confirmed, and not formally ruled out.

Can I import a Grand California Dune to the UK?

Yes, in principle, by buying a left-hand-drive example from a European dealer and importing it, which is how a fair few continental editions reach British driveways. The catches are the obvious ones: it would be left-hand drive on our roads, you'd handle the import and registration yourself, and you'd want to think carefully about warranty and servicing for a vehicle the UK network didn't sell. Plenty of determined buyers do it anyway.

Is the Dune a proper off-roader?

No, and it's important to be honest about that. It's adventure-styled rather than expedition-built. There's no suspension lift and no all-terrain tyres. The optional 4MOTION all-wheel drive and rear diff-lock give it genuine but modest extra capability, enough for muddy pitches, wet grass and slipways, not for serious off-road terrain.

How much would the Dune cost in the UK?

There's no UK price because it isn't sold here. In Germany it's around €88,964 for the 600 and €91,886 for the 680 in front-drive form, with 4MOTION adding roughly €6,000 to €7,000. Don't convert those straight to pounds, though: UK pricing works differently, and since the standard Grand California already costs around £85,000 here, a UK Dune would most likely sit around or above that figure.

What's the difference between the Dune and a standard Grand California?

Less than you might think, mechanically, and that's rather the point. The Dune adds exclusive Ascot Grey paint, black 17-inch Lismore wheels, anthracite cladding, DUNE and compass graphics, a bundle of camping kit and a useful package discount. Much of the smart interior, the bamboo-effect decor, PVC floor, detachable table, digital cockpit, came in as part of the 2026 update to the whole Grand California range, not just the Dune.

Is there an electric or hybrid Grand California Dune?

No. The Grand California is diesel only. The plug-in-hybrid eHybrid you may have read about is the smaller, Multivan-based California, an entirely different vehicle. There is currently no electrified Grand California of any kind.

Grand California 600 or 680, which is better?

The 600 is the higher-roofed, roughly six-metre version, with a transverse rear bed and the option of a pull-down bed over the cab, making it up to a four-berth and the natural family pick. The 680 is longer and lower-roofed, with a big lengthways bed and more storage, but it sleeps two. The 680 also comes only at 3,880kg, which needs a C1 licence; the 600 is 3,500kg and drivable on an ordinary car licence unless you option it up.

Do I need a C1 licence to drive one?

For the 600 at 3,500kg, no, a standard car licence covers it. For the 680 at 3,880kg, yes, you'd need C1. Bear in mind that adding 4MOTION and a full load to a 600 can nudge it towards its limit, so check the plated weight of the exact van you're considering.

Where is the Grand California built?

It's built on the VW Crafter at Volkswagen's plant in Poland, and it's VW's only factory coachbuilt motorhome, the one with a proper fixed wet-room and a permanent bed, as opposed to the pop-top Californias.

Will VW actually bring the Dune to the UK?

Unknown. VW UK said it was "hopeful" but couldn't confirm it. We've asked the question again directly and will update this piece with any answer. In the meantime, visible buyer interest is the thing most likely to tip the decision.

What can I buy in the UK instead, right now?

You can buy the standard Grand California (including with 4MOTION), commission a bespoke 4x4 conversion from a UK specialist, or look at rival adventure campers such as the Sunlight Cliff 4x4 or the Burstner Habiton 4x4. None is quite the Dune, which is rather the point.

The verdict, for now

The Grand California Dune is a lovely, sensible, desirable thing: a factory camper that looks ready for an adventure, on a van Britain already buys, with capability Britain can already option, denied to us for reasons that look commercial rather than insurmountable. VW hasn't shut the door; it's left it ajar and said "maybe". Our view is simple: the hard engineering is done, the demand is real, and the honest, low-risk move is to bring it here. We hope VW's "hopeful" becomes a yes, and we'll happily report it the moment it does. (If a rugged factory camper is your thing, it's worth reading our take on the standard VW Grand California you can buy today, and on the wider question of why some of the best adventure campers never reach the UK.)

The reachable bit

A Grand California Dune, however it's priced, is comfortably an £85,000-plus vehicle, which is rather the recurring theme of every van we cover. The freedom these things promise, paint the colour of a beach, chairs in the boot, the open road, keeps getting more beautifully packaged and more expensive, and further out of reach for most of the people who'd love it. That's the whole reason Campervan.win exists: capped entries so the odds stay honest, every cost published down to the line, £500 to a UK charity from every full draw, and a winner who drives away in a real van, not a cheque. The adventure shouldn't only belong to the people who can sign for one.