That price is for a fully spec'd plug in hybrid, prices start around £45k, a new E52 starts from the equivalent of $39,000.
The Multivan is the Caravelle replacement, ie a minibus/people carrier. It is now based on the MQB car platform (used for Golf, Passat etc.) and drives more like a car.
If you mean the camper version, that'll be a California but will probably stay on the van platform, although Matt Watson pointed out in his review that the hybrid battery would provide significant advantages for off grid camping (14kWh vs a few 100Wh in a leisure battery).
And I'm not sure what you mean by decent seats? VW may not offer leg rests; but the rear seat layout is fully configurable, you can have 5, 6, 7 or 8 seater layouts; all outboard seats can be heated and you can have a table. Previous Caravelle had an Executive trim, so I'd expect that to appear at some point.
Does it offer more than an Elgrand, other than fuel economy and modern infotainment, probably not.
Is it a better choice than a 7 seat SUV for moving 6+ people, definitely.
And it will drive better than it's direct European competitor the Merc V Class which is: even more expensive and still based on a panel van no matter how much leather they throw at it.