The Peugeot 207 Van is soon to be discontinued

Car-derived vans such as the Vauxhall Corsavan and Ford Fiesta Van have been around for years. They have never been big sellers but have maintained a niche presence servicing the needs of people who really do need a very small van.

One other regular in the very small van parc has been Peugeot, with its 206 and 207 Van models. The 207 car is shortly due to be replaced by the 208 and the French company has announced that it will not produce a van version of the 208.

Peugeot told What Van? that UK sales of the 207 Van, which have never been high, have fallen from a peak of 970 units in 2008 to about 250 in 2011. In addition, the 207 Van competes with Peugeot’s own Bipper van, a highly successful, modern compact van model which sold 5,000 units in the UK in 2011 and which is far more versatile than the 207 Van, without having significantly higher running costs.

According to What Van?, Peugeot’s spokesman also indicated that a 208 Van model might not be compatible with Peugeot’s aim to take their cars upmarket.

Although both Ford and Vauxhall continue to produce car-derived small vans, neither of these manufacturers have a compact van in their ranges equivalent to the Peugeot Bipper. One wonders whether they will persist with the car-derived van format or whether they will introduce new compact van models to replace their car-derived models – which have limited appeal due to their very small loadspaces.