Peugeot and Citroen are both part of the PSA automotive group – hence why almost all of their vans are produced in two versions, one featuring the Peugeot badge and one the Citroen.

Regardless of this, the company has produced some great vans in recent years – most notably the three-million selling Berlingo / Partner small panel van.

Now there is a new kid on the block – the Peugeot Bipper and Citroen Nemo.

Aimed firmly at the European small van market, the Bipper and Nemo offer great economy – with a choice of 1.4L petrol or 1.4L HDi diesel engines – and a convenient 600kg payload. The van has an impressive 18,000 mile service interval – meaning most rental companies will never have to service them!

The load area is a generous (for the van’s size) 1.5m long, 1.18m high and 1.05m wide between the wheel arches, and the front passenger seat can be folded into the floor to increase the load length to almost 2.5m.

On the outside, the van is usefully small – at just 3.75m long and 1.68m wide, it’s ideal for town work. High barriers won’t be a problem, either – even with the roof rails fitted, the Bipper / Nemo is still only 1.78m high.

The van features an optional automated manual gearbox – a fitting fast becoming standard on larger commercial vehicles and one which makes the driver’s life much easier, especially around town. Get ready to see a lot more of these over the next few years – the advantages of full manual gearboxes are rapidly disappearing!

The Bipper / Nemo looks like it should be a suitable addition to the hire fleets of most van hire companies – although small, it’s ideal for urban work and should be economical and straightforward to operate. I also expect it to be very popular – perhaps replacing the extremely small Corsa-sized vans for some operators.

P.S. I should of course have mentioned that most PSA vans are also produced badged as Fiats. That’s certainly true with the Bipper/Nemo – Fiat will be resurrecting the Fiorino name with its own version of this new van.