Toyota Material Handling UK has chosen the Proace for its sales and service engineer fleet and has purchased 116 of the new vans, which replace the old Hiace model.
Toyota Material Handling has ordered more than 100 Toyota Proace vans for its service engineer fleet.
The firm provides national sales and servicing for Toyota forklift trucks and warehouse equipment, and says that it found the Proace to be the best vehicle on offer, “thanks to its functionality and excellent cost-of-ownership performance”.
Although Toyota Material Handling claims that the Proace ‘was no shoo-in’ and won the contract on its own merits, it’s probably fair to say that Toyota’s forklift customers would think it a bit odd if the firm’s service engineers didn’t use a Toyota van, when a suitable model was available.
It’s also fair to say that Toyota’s UK distributors would feel justifiably miffed if the Proace hadn’t been chosen — what chance would they have of selling the van to anyone else, if their own company wouldn’t use it?
Suffice it to say that the choice of the Proace, which is a rebandged Peugeot Expert/Citroen Dispatch/Fiat Scudo, was no surprise. The deal is the Proace’s first major UK fleet contract and consists of 116 vans, each of which will be a long wheelbase/standard roof height model, powered by a 2.0-litre, 126bhp diesel engine.
Phill Bird, who’s After-Sales Director for Slough-based Toyota Material Handling UK, is delighted that the Toyota Proace will be the tool of choice for his team. Bird commented:
“After a rigorous process of testing the Toyota Proace ticked all the boxes for comfort, efficiency and effectiveness for our field technicians. Their vehicles are more than just a van, they have to provide a spacious environment providing parts storage and a mobile workshop to deliver our trademark of world class support and the Proace provides both with comfort and style to match.”
The new Proace replaces the European version of the Hiace, which was never a big seller, and offers a choice nine different configurations, including two vehicle lengths, two height options, payloads of one or 1.2 tonnes and a choice of three diesel engines. The versions selected by TMHUK have been fitted with racking by specialist supplier Bott inside the capacious, 6m3 loadspace.
The comfort and safety of TMHUK’s workforce will be addressed by a standard Proace equipment specification that includes ABS with emergency brake assist, VSC stability control, driver and front passenger airbags and air conditioning. The vans are also fitted with Bluetooth, electric windows, driver’s seat height adjustment and reach and rake adjustment for the steering wheel.