The last few weeks have seen an interesting range of new vans come to market in the UK. Here’s a run down of what’s new to the market.

Smith Electric Vehicles

British company Smith Electric Vehicles have emerged as one of the world’s leading manufacturers of all-electric vehicles over the last few years.

Their Ford Transit-based Edison has proved especially popular with urban and other low-mileage users and they have now announced a new, smaller van, the Ampere, to complement it. The Ampere is based on the hugely popular Ford Transit Connect so should be equally successful.

The Ampere has an 800kg payload, a 100 mile range and a top speed of 70mph.

Fiat

Alongside the launch of Fiat‘s new small van, the Fiorino (the same vehicle as the Peugeot Bipper/Citroen Nemo), the company have also launched their ‘BforB’ range – Built for Business. This is a range of pre-built chassis van models such as tippers, Lutons, box vans and crew cabs which can be ordered directly from the dealer.

Fiat aren’t the first manufacturer to do this. Companies such as Renault and Vauxhall are already offering similar deals and they are proving to be popular – not least due to extremely fast delivery times. Fiat claim that a completed van can be delivered in two weeks, which is pretty fast.

Vauxhall

Finally, Vauxhall have added a new factory conversion to its existing range, this time based on the Movano van.

The Movano Luton offers a payload of 1,385kg and 17.2 cubic metres of load space – quite big, even for a Luton. It’s one of the current crop of streamlined lutons, where the overcab area is curved to reduce wind resistance and help fuel efficiency. It does however reduce quite how much can be carried in this area, although for most users it’s not a big issue.

The Movano Luton comes with Vauxhall’s 2.5CDTi engine which can be specified at 100bhp, 120bhp or 146bhp ratings. The van and its aluminium Luton body are covered by Vauxhall’s three-year/100,000 mile manufacturer’s warranty and can be ordered directly from Vauxhall dealers.