Tag Archives: Citroen

Citroën Bags VansA2Z Award For Ready To Run Conversion Range

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Citroen Ready to Run range

Citroën’s Ready To Run range has won the first Vans A2Z One-Stop Shop Award.

Citroën’s award-winning Ready to Run range of factory van conversions continued its winning ways earlier today.

This unique ready-bodied specialist programme, the most comprehensive of its type available in the UK, has just won the VansA2Z One-Stop Shop Award.

In making the first VansA2Z One-Stop Shop Award, the judges commended Citroën for the range and quality of the Ready to Run conversions available for its Nemo, Berlingo, Dispatch and Relay models.The Vans A2Z Van of the Year Awards 2013 One-Stop Shop Award-winning Citroën Ready to Run range includes:

  • Dropside trucks
  • Glass carrying vans
  • High-cube, low-loading vans
  • Luton vans
  • Temperature-controlled (chiller/freezer) vans
  • Tippers

Scott Michael, Citroën’s Head of Commercial Vehicles & Business Centre Programme, remarked:

“The Ready to Run programme has been successful in widening Citroën’s LCV customer base, enabling the company to compete in new markets. I am very pleased that the Vans A2Z Van of the Year Awards judges have recognised Ready to Run’s success with the first One-Stop Shop Award.”

As I’ve commented several times in recent years, most manufacturers are now offering ready-built body conversions and the popularity and relevance of these schemes will only increase when the EU type approval rules come into force in April, despite the recently announced common-sense exceptions.

APC Overnight Takes Delivery of 200th Citroën Relay

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Citroën Relay in APC Overnight livery

One of Delivered’s Citroën Relays in APC Overnight livery.

APC Overnight, the UK’s largest next-day parcel delivery network, now has 200 Citroën Relay 35 L3H2 HDi 130 6-speed manual panel vans in service. The landmark 200th Relay is one of five purchased by Delivered, one of APC Overnight’s largest members, with depots at High Wycombe, Slough and Reading.

Martin Cavendish, Delivered’s Group Operations Manager, explains:

“These latest Citroëns are the first we have bought through the special APC Overnight members’ arrangement with Citroën Coventry. This allows us to buy our new Relays and operate them for four years, which is financially advantageous, saving a considerable amount of money compared with leasing or contract hiring other makes of vehicle. We have a lot of operating experience with Citroën vans and know they can cover very high mileages economically and reliably.”

During their four years’ service with Delivered, the new vans will cover some 120,000 miles. They will form part of the company’s fleet, which delivers around 3,000 parcels per day. This intensive stop/start operation can see the Relays carry out up to 100 deliveries and collections per day. Delivered is responsible for APC Overnight consignments within an area that includes West London and parts of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

Delivered’s five new Relays are to APC Overnight’s specification, with a full steel bulkhead, Bluetooth® and rear parking sensors added to the vans’ comprehensive standard specification, which includes Trafficmaster Smartnav satellite navigation and Trackstar stolen vehicle tracking. Supplying dealer, Citroën Coventry, has also liveried all the Delivered Relays in APC Overnight’s striking colours.

APC Overnight members are independent locally-owned businesses and operate some 115 depots throughout the UK. Collectively they handle more than 1,000,000 parcels per month.

Tees Valley Property Company Vela Orders 129 Citroën Vans

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Citroën Relay operated by The Vela GroupTees Valley property company The Vela Group has ordered 129 Citroën vans to replace the majority of its 200-strong vehicle fleet.

Vela, which owns and manages former council housing in Stockton and Hartlepool, has ordered 120 Citroën Dispatch L2 1200 vans, eight Citroën Relay 35 L3 H2 HDi 130 vans and a Nemo 1.3 HDi Stop & Start van, as well as some cars.

The order will be fulfilled by Gateshead dealer Springfield Citroën and the vans will be used by Vela’s maintenance teams to provide a 24-hour service to customers across its 17,000 properties in Stockton-on-Tees and Hartlepool.

All the vans are ply-lined and have been specified with passenger airbags, full steel bulkheads, reversing warning systems and parking sensors. Eighty of the vehicles are fitted with roof bars or tilt and slide ladder racks, and one of the Relays is fitted with an external glazing rack – all installed by Lyndon Security.

All of the vehicles are fitted with Teletrac satellite tracking to minimise response times and to help Vela meet its commitment to health and safety and the environment. Around half of the Citroën vehicles in this Vela Group order have been funded through Citroën Contract Motoring 3 or 4 year, 30,000 or 40,000 mile with-maintenance contract hire agreements – with the remaining vehicles being purchased outright.

Mike Kay, Group Director of Property Services at Vela, said:

“We went through a rigorous selection and procurement process, which included user groups made up of trades operatives, managers and supervisors to evaluate the options offered by the leading vehicle manufacturers. The decision to go with Citroën was based on a comprehensive assessment of suitability, vehicle data, ergonomics and cost.”

Citroën To Launch Electric Berlingo At Birmingham CV Show

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Citroen Berlingo Electrique

Citroen Berlingo Electrique

Citroën will be showing its all-new Berlingo Electrique van at this year’s Commercial Vehicle Show (NEC, 9-11 April).

Citroën’s CV Show stand will also be the launch platform for a number of other new LCV products, including the new Dispatch L1H1 HDi 125 6-seat Crew Van and Stop & Start equipped Relay vans.

In addition, Citroën will be continuing its ‘Citroën Vans – Business Class’ theme, with Citroën Contract Motoring personnel providing instant contract hire and other business-friendly finance quotations to the show’s visitors.

Berlingo Electrique

The new, well equipped Berlingo Electrique will be the sister vehicle to the Peugeot Partner Electric, which was shown at the Hanover Motor Show last September. The electric motor is positioned under the bonnet and the lithium-ion battery pack is located underneath the vehicle’s load deck. This means the load compartment of up to 3.7m3and payload of 636kg is equivalent to that of a similar diesel-powered Berlingo van.

With a total battery capacity of 22.5kWh, the Berlingo Electrique has a range of up to 106 miles. Using a domestic socket, the vehicle can be fully charged in around 8½ hours or, alternatively, it can be charged to 80% of capacity in only 35 minutes using a specific 380V three-phase terminal in quick-charge mode.

The Berlingo Electrique’s permanent magnet synchronous electric motor produces 49kW (67hp) and has a peak torque rating of 200Nm. The motor drives the front wheels through a speed reducer and a single-ratio gearbox.  This should translate to pretty perky performance, especially as the electric motor’s torque is available from a standing start.

Full UK specification and pricing will be announced closer to the CV Show, but among the Berlingo Electrique’s features are:

  • Eco-driving information, including an energy consumption/regeneration indicator, an instantaneous energy consumption gauge and an auxiliaries consumption gauge, which displays data on heating, air conditioning and other secondary power usage
  • A deceleration and braking energy recovery system
  • An electric heating system with an eco-mode to limit energy consumption
  • Hill start assist coupled to the ESP system

As I commented recently, I believe that electric vans offer a far more appealing commercial proposition than electric cars, at present — and once the initial purchase cost comes down a little, I expect them to become popular quite quickly.

The 2013 Commercial Vehicle Show will be held at the Birmingham NEC from the 9th – 11th April 2013. Visit www.cvshow.com for more details.

Citroën Extends 4-Year Free ‘Business Class’ Van Offer

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Citroen DispatchCitroën has extended its ‘Upgrade To Business Class’ package, which is available at no cost and includes a 4-year servicing and extended warranty deal.

The business class package, which I previously mentioned in June, was previously on offer until the end of July but has now been extended to “for the foreseeable future”, according to a press release issued by Citroën today:

Now the ‘Upgrade to Business Class’ package will continue to be available to qualifying customers on all new Citroën LCVs supplied by participating Citroën dealers and Business Centres for the foreseeable future.

The no-cost Citroën ‘Upgrade to Business Class’ package includes:

  • 4 years/60,000 mile servicing (whichever comes first), allowing customers to have their LCVs serviced annually over this period
  • 4 years Citroën Assistance (provided by the AA), with Roadside Assistance, At Home Assistance, Recovery, Onward travel and European cover
  • Warranty extension to 4 years/120,000 miles (whichever comes first)

Scott Michael, Citroën’s Head of Commercial Vehicles & Business Centre Programme, commented:

“Citroën takes its responsibilities seriously in the matter of reducing the whole life costs of its award-winning LCV range. The continuation of the innovative ‘Upgrade to Business Class’ package means we can continue to provide our customers with long-term economic benefits. This is coupled with other cost reduction and enhanced efficiency benefits introduced this year as part of the ‘Citroën Vans – Business Class’ initiative, which puts Citroën even further ahead of its competition.”

vanrental.co.uk says:

Presumably Citroën is suffering from falling new van sales as badly as most other manufacturers — this no-cost deal seems attractive for tradesmen and low-mileage SMEs and could help swing a few more sales Citroën’s way.

Citroën Adds Enterprise Pack Option To Berlingo, Dispatch & Relay

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Citroen Relay, Dispatch and Berlingo Enterprise models

The Citroen Relay, Dispatch and Berlingo are now available with an optional Enterprise pack

Citroën already makes an Enterprise version of its popular vans, but it is now going to give buyers of other models the choice of an optional Enterprise pack.

The new Enterprise Packs are available on Berlingo LX, Berlingo XTR+, Dispatch and Relay panels vans.

Priced from just £600 + VAT, Enterprise Packs include rear parking sensors, Connecting Box (Bluetooth® & USB port) and air conditioning.

The Enterprise Packs can save customers up to £420 + VAT compared with specifying the individual options. The pack prices also reflect the price differential between the existing stand-alone Enterprise models and the model on which they are based.

Scott Michael, Citroën’s Head of Commercial Vehicles & Business Centre Programme, comments:

“Thanks to their high specification and competitive pricing, Enterprise versions of the Nemo, Berlingo, Dispatch and Relay vans have proved very popular. These optional Enterprise Packs represent fantastic value for money and enable our LCV customers to further enhance the safety, driver comfort and communications of other Citroën vans to the same high level.”

Toyota To Sell Rebadged PSA Vans In Europe

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Toyota Hiace

Toyota Hiace panel van - discontinued in the UK from 2012

Back in January, I lamented the passing of the Toyota Hiace, puzzling over why Toyota had claimed to have no suitable Euro 5 engines, when clearly it did.

The answer may now be clear — the Japanese company will be selling rebadged PSA Peugeot Citroën vans in Europe from mid-2013. The new van will be based on the Citroën Dispatch / Peugeot Expert — near enough a direct replacement for the Hiace.

The agreement also includes collaboration on next generation vehicles which are to be produced by PSA Peugeot Citroën.  The collaboration is expected to last beyond 2020.

Toyota Motor Europe will participate in the development and industrial investment costs for the next generation product. There are no plans for the two companies to enter into capital tie-ups or joint production.

Toyota Motor Europe President and CEO, Didier Leroy:

“The Light Commercial Vehicle segment is an important one for us in many markets throughout Europe. By joining forces with PSA Peugeot Citroën, we have found a good solution for our loyal customers following the recent discontinuation of our own Hiace model.  We already enjoy a successful joint-venture partnership with PSA Peugeot Citroën in the small car segment and they are a leader in the European light commercial vehicle market, with a solid reputation for quality and versatility.”

As mentioned above, PSA and Toyota already collaborate in the small car segment — the Peugeot 107, Citroën C1 and Toyota Aygo are all the same car.

Not the real Hiace

The tie-up probably makes sense for Toyota, as it will no longer have to produce a separate version of the Hiace for European markets.

The bonneted Hiace model (pictured above) that was sold in European markets is a special European design — the standard Hiace is a cabover configuration (here’s a picture on Toyota’s Australian website). This model is the ‘real’ Hiace and sells well in Asia, the Middle East and Africa but is not acceptable in Europe — as far as I can tell, because it doesn’t comply with our crash test requirements (but I stand ready to be corrected).

Update: The European model Toyota Hiace was built at Toyota’s Ovar factory in Portgual. According to this article on Just-Auto.com, just 152 have been built so far this year and only 304 were built in 2011. It looks like the time had come for the Euro Hiace to make a dignified exit.

Travel Business Class With Citroën Vans

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Citroen's four year business class warranty promotion

Citroen's 4 Year 'Business Class' Warranty deal...

Citroën vans are now available with a new no-cost ‘Upgrade to Business Class’ extended four year warranty, servicing and Citroën Assistance package.

This is an attractive upgrade to the standard Citroën van package, which is made up of a two year unlimited mileage manufacturer’s warranty and a no-fee customer option of one year’s dealer provided 100,000 mile warranty.

The fourth year of warranty will be an insurance product providing cover up to 120,000 miles — so not suitable for high mileage users but very attractive for tradesmen and others employed on local work.

Participating Citroën dealers and Business Centres are offering the no-cost ‘Upgrade to Business Class’ package on any Euro 5 Citroën Nemo, Berlingo, Dispatch or Relay ordered by qualifying customers and delivered by 31 July 2012.

The no-cost Citroën ‘Upgrade to Business Class’ package includes:

  • 4 years/60,000 mile servicing (whichever comes first), allowing customers to have their LCVs serviced annually over this period
  • 4 years Citroën Assistance (provided by the AA), with Roadside Assistance, At Home Assistance, Recovery, Onward Travel and European cover
  • Warranty extension to 4 years/120,000 miles (whichever comes first)

Scott Michael, Citroën’s Commercial Vehicle Operations Manager, commented;

“Prior to the introduction of the  ‘Upgrade to Business Class’ programme we carried out extensive consultation with our dealers to develop the optimum package to meet the needs of our LCV customers – particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs).  Now, with ‘Upgrade to Business Class’, Citroën customers are able to purchase not just competitively priced, well-equipped LCVs with class-leading fuel efficiency and low emissions, but they can also take advantage of all the benefits of a comprehensive four year motoring package.”

The ‘Upgrade to Business Class’ package can also be used by Citroën LCV customers in conjunction with a Citroën Finance Lease product. This is a popular finance solution for many business users including partnerships, limited companies, self-employed and sole traders. With Citroën Finance Lease, the customer pays a monthly rental on an LCV for the contract period, which can be up to 60 months.

High-Flying Citroën Vans For Virgin Atlantic

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Virgin Atlantic Citroen Relay Luton vanVirgin Atlantic has taken delivery of 45 Citroën vans as part of a move to replace its entire mixed-marque fleet with Citroën LCVs.

The first order includes 22 Berlingo five-seat Crew Vans, Dispatch vans, Relay Specialist Dropsides and a Relay Specialist Luton van.

Virgin’s use of the vans varies considerably; those remaining within an airport clock up just 5,000 miles per year. At the other end of the spectrum, some take it in turns to cover a 350 mile route seven days per week.

The fleet replacement is part of a move from van leasing to outright purchasing, as Virgin Atlantic’s Logistics Manager, Matt P. Neville, explains:

“Because our vehicle usage varies so greatly we have moved away from leasing to direct purchase as it enables us to replace the vans as and when needed, rather than having to stick to a particular timetable”

The five-seat Berlingo Crew Vans will be used by Virgin Atlantic’s aircraft engineers as they keep the long-haul aircraft in operational condition. The Dispatch vans are being used for longer distance travel between airports, both in the UK and mainland Europe, to collect and deliver time-critical aircraft parts and equipment.

Most of the Relay Specialist Dropsides will used by the stores teams to carry items like aircraft wheels and tyres. The Relay Specialist Luton van, resplendent in Virgin Atlantic’s distinctive livery, will be based at Heathrow. It will be used by the facilities maintenance crew to move anything from paint to furniture between airports and other company facilities.

The introduction of the cleaner and more fuel efficient Euro 5 engines in the Citroën LCVs has helped Mr. Neville win Virgin Atlantic’s Hero Award for sustainability.

Slough-Based IT Specialist Chooses Citroën Vans

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Citroen Berlingo van operated by Logistics InternationalSlough-based IT services firm Logistics International plc and its subsidiary Wildfield Ltd. have just completed a major van and car fleet deal with Citroën Slough.

As part of a fleet replacement programme, the specialist IT engineering service companies have taken delivery of 43 new Citroën vehicles, including 26 Berlingo HDi 75 manual L1 625 Enterprise vans.

Leatherhead-based Logistics International plc offers its UK and European customers a wide range of IT engineering services as well as printer support, managed print services and field mobility solutions. The company’s new Citroëns will be used by its highly trained IT software engineers, who provide its blue chip customer base with skilled, specialist support.

George Kyle, Logistics International’s Fleet Manager, explains: “Our new Citroëns replace a mixed fleet with a single make. We already run some Citroëns and, in acquiring these latest vehicles, we have enjoyed an excellent level of service from the Citroën Slough Business Centre, both in achieving the correct vehicle specification for each user and in selecting the right contract hire deal through Citroën Contract Motoring. Since these new Citroën cars and vans have entered service, our engineers have been very impressed with their new vehicles.”

Logistics International’s 43 new Citroëns are being operated on 36 month, with maintenance, contract hire agreements with Citroën Contract Motoring. Dependent on application and location, Logistics International’s vehicles will cover between 90,000 and 105,000 miles, both in the UK and Europe, during their service life with the company.