BT backs new Ford range with 1,000 van purchase

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BT Ford Transit Custom

BT’s new Ford Transit Custom vans will be used by customer service engineers.

BT runs one of the largest van fleets in the UK, and the firm’s fleet division, BT Fleet has a reputation for running a tight ship.

The firm’s vans don’t tend to do particularly high mileages, and are generally kept on fleet for seven years, during which time they are well-maintained, making them very desirable used purchases when they are eventually de-fleeted.

BT is a long-time Ford customer, and recently ordered 1,000 new Ford vans as part of a large-scale fleet renewal programme.

More than 500 new Ford Transit Custom and 200 Ford Transit vans are among the order, with the balance made up of Ford Fiesta vans. Some will replace existing customer service engineer vehicles, while others will help meet expanding demand for BT’s products and services across the UK.

Interestingly, the Ford Transits are long wheelbase, high-roof models that will replace the Transit chassis cab luton models previously used — BT’s compact and custom made luton body is a regular sight on UK roads, but won’t be so much anymore, as it seems the firm has found a way of including all the racking and equipment it needs inside a panel van, rather than requiring a coachbuilt body, This should cut fuel consumption and emissions, as well as being easier to drive and avoiding any type approval headaches.

Mike Langford, BT’s senior customer relationship manager, says that the new vans had to meet a demanding set of criteria:

“We started by looking at all of our skill sets across the business and designing the safest and most ergonomic racking we could. We then looked at what vehicles were available which could accommodate what was required.

“After that we looked at a range of factors, including whole-life costs, safety, emissions, technology and aftersales. If we are keeping a van for seven years, we have to ask whether we will be able to get a spare part for that vehicle, at the right price, throughout its life.”

The Ford Fiesta vans will be in service with engineers based at exchange buildings, with Ford Transit Custom used to carry the equipment required by customer service engineers. Vehicle conversion specialists Bri-Stor Systems and Bott are undertaking the interior alteration works on the BT vans.

Mercedes-Benz to launch pick-up truck

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Update: It seems that the Mercedes-Benz pick-up will be a joint venture between Nissan and Daimler and will, essentially, be a re-engineered version of the forthcoming new Nissan NP300 (a replacement for the current Navara). This vehicle will also be used by Renault for its forthcoming entry to the 1-ton pick-up market, so it’will be a case of 3 brands, one underlying model.

This is the second new Mercedes commercial vehicle built along these lines — the firm’s Citan small van is based on the Renault Kangoo.

Mercedes-Benz is planning to launch a midsize pick-up truck “by the end of the decade”. The German firm says that it will target markets in Latin America, South Africa, Australia and Europe, capitalising on the widespread appeal of so-called midsize pick-ups with a one-tonne payload and high specification.

Mercedes-Benz pick-up

Mercedes-Benz is planning to launch a new pick-up model by 2020.

Billed as the first pick-up from a premium manufacturer, Mercedes is hoping to replicate the global success of the M-Class, which was the first premium SUV from a European manufacturer when it was introduced, 20 years ago.

The Mercedes-Benz Vans division will design and build the new firm, bringing its combined experience of high specification (for example, the V-Class and Vito) and goods vehicle toughness and utility to create a model that it is expected to appeal to private and commercial buyers.

Details are sketchy at the moment, with only a single mocked-up image available, but it’s fair to assume that the yet-to-be-named pick-up will offer power and specification levels that will match and exceed those of class leaders such as the VW Amarok and Ford Ranger.

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New Vauxhall Corsavan: full details + pics

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2015 Vauxhall Corsavan front viewAs I reported back in January, there’s a new version of the Vauxhall Corsavan for 2015. It’s already on sale and should hit showrooms later in March.

The last version of the Corsavan sold 34,000 units in the UK, and as the first examples of the new Corsavan will soon make an appearance on UK roads, it’s worth taking a closer look at what buyers will be getting for the van’s list price, which starts at £11,858.33 and ascends to £14,558.33.

Two trim levels will be offered, Corsavan and Corsavan Sportive, and specification levels have been improved across the range. As I reported from the launch of the new Corsa car, this is definitely the best Corsa yet and the interior is comfortable and modern.

Under the bonnet, Corsavan buyers won’t get a chance to enjoy the firm’s fantastic new 1-litre turbo petrol engine, but will get updated versions of the popular 1.3CDTi diesel with a choice of 75PS and 95PS power levels and Start/Stop as standard, along with the company’s rather dated 1.2-litre petrol engine. This is probably best avoided unless you won’t be doing many miles, in which case the cost saving — the petrol model is £1,250 +VAT cheaper than the cheapest diesel — could be worthwhile.

All engines are Euro 6 compliant and the diesel units offer economy levels of up to 85mpg, with CO2 emissions starting from just 87g/km. Handling and ride are improved — albeit still a little dull — and the new Corsavan’s payload has increased slightly to a new maximum of 571kg and a flat loading capacity of 920 litres.

2015 Vauxhall Corsavan front view

An upgraded Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) is standard across the Corsavan range, as are tyre pressure monitoring, electric windows and mirrors, and no fewer than six airbags.

Corsavan Sportive buyers also get air conditioning, metallic or pearlescent paint, 16″ alloy wheels, heated windscreen, leather steering wheel, sports seats and a few bits as standard. If you still want more, then climate control, a 7″ touchscreen-based infotainment system, and a package including lane departure warning and front collision alert are all new options for Corsavan buyers.

2015 Vauxhall Corsavan rear view

The new Corsavan looks better on the outside than the outgoing model, in my view, but it’s inside that counts, so here’s a shot of the new Corsavan’s loadspace, which offers 920 litres/up to 571kg of load-lugging capacity:

Vauxhall Corsavan boot

Drivers get to sit up front in the updated cab area, pictured here in Sportive specification:

2015 Vauxhall Corsavan cab area

To be honest, it’s a little bit boy racer for me, but this sporty is sure to appeal to many younger drivers, and is something of a feature across the range.

Our verdict

Having driven the new Corsa last year, there’s very little not to like about the model, except that it’s not quite as good to drive (or look at, in my view) as the Fiesta.

Coincidentally, Ford is the only other manufacturer offering a small car-derived van in the UK market — so this niche is likely to continue to be shared between Vauxhall and Ford, as it has been since the Peugeot withdrew the 207 Van from the market, a few years ago.

Hertz wins van rental company of the year at trade awards

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Ford Transit and Ford Transit CustomHertz was chosen as the Van Rental Company of the Year at least week’s VansA2Z Van of the Year Awards 2015, taking home the inaugural prize in this new category.

Competition was strong — there are more than 200 van rental companies affiliated with the British Vehicle Rental & Leasing Association — but the judges rules that Hertz was an “outstanding performer that rated highly across all judged criteria“.

Elsewhere at the awards, it was largely business as usual. Ford’s confident renewal of its entire commercial vehicle range has won the firm a lot of awards (and some new fans) over the last 18 months, and last week was no exception.

The men and women from the blue oval walked away from the VansA2Z 2015 Van of the Year Awards at Twickenham Stadium with no fewer than five awards and several commendations, including:

  • Editor’s Choice: Ford Transit Courier
  • Small Panel Van of the Year: Ford Transit Custom
  • Large Panel Van of the Year: Ford Transit
  • Best Small Van: Ford Fiesta Van
  • Lifetime Achievement: Ford Transit, in recognition of this year’s 50th annivesary for the legendary van

Ford did, however, fail to bag the overall top spot, the Van of the Year Award, which went to Fiat for the latest iteration of its popular Doblò Cargo van, which went on sale just one month ago. The Doblò Cargo was chosen as the Light Van of the Year and the overall Van of the Year by the VansA2Z judges.

Other notable winners included the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 4×4 (see here) and the Nissan e-NV200 electric van, two big favourites here at vanrental.co.uk.

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Rossetts get serious with Mercedes-Benz 4×4 demo fleet

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Mercedes-Benz Vito 4x4 Rossetts Commercials

Rossetts Commercials’ Oberaigner Mercedes-Benz Vito 4×4

Mercedes-Benz all-wheel drive commercial vehicles are legendary, and UK dealer Rossetts Commercials is fast developing a niche for itself in supplying all-wheel drive Mercedes-Benz vans — even models that aren’t officially imported to the UK.

The Surrey and Sussex-based dealer now has a hat-trick of all-wheel drive Mercedes vans on its demonstrator fleet:

  • Mercedes-Benz Vito 4×4 (German import, left-hand drive only, modified by German specialists Oberaigner)
  • Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 4×4 (available as right-hand drive official UK model)
  • Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 6×6 (converted by German specialist Oberaigner, Rossett is the sole UK agent)

As you can see from the pictures below, these vans are the real deal, with raised suspension and genuine go-anywhere ability.

Although the Mercedes-Benz Vito 4×4 is available as an official Mercedes model, Rossetts isn’t importing this version — instead, the Vito 4×4 offered by the UK dealer is a Vito 4×4 with additional modifications by German all-wheel drive specialist Oberaigner. The main difference is that Oberaigner has added mechanical diff-locks for improved off-road performance.

Rossetts' Vito 4x4 and Sprinter 4x4

Rossetts’ Vito 4×4 and Sprinter 4×4

The Sprinter 4×4 is no stranger to these pages, and is available as an official right-hand drive UK import.

However, if you need something altogether more serious, Rossetts is the sole UK agent for the unique 7.0-tonne Oberaigner Sprinter 6×6 conversion, which offers a 4-tonne payload plus serious off-road ability.

Oberaigner Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 6x6

The Oberaigner Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 6×6 — this one is Rossetts’ demonstrator

More details

The Vito 4×4 is available as a Dualiner (crew cab) or panel van, and with a choice of 136 hp or 163 hp outputs from its 2.1-litre engine, which drives through an automatic transmission.

The Sprinter 4×4 comes with gross weights of 3.5 or 5.0 tonnes, and as a chassis cab or chassis crewcab, as well as with a panel van body. It can be specified with 129 hp or 163 hp versions of the 2.1-litre engine, or as a 190 hp 3.0-litre V6.

For more information on any of these models, contact Rossetts Commercials (www.rossetts.co.uk)

CV manufacturing output up 33.7% in February

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UK van manufacturing

Image courtesy of SMMT

Output from UK commercial vehicle manufacturers surged 33.7% higher in February, compared to the same period last year, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Of particular note was an increase in export demand of 13.4% — the first for many months and a positive sign, given that the UK’s main export market is the recession-bound eurozone.

The figures were pretty strong at home, too, with output rising by 56.1% compared to the same month last year and by 23.8% on a year-to-date basis.

Mike Hawes, the SMMT’s chief executive, says that the outlook for the year ahead is strong:

“The surge in output from UK commercial vehicle manufacturers in February has put the sector on a strong footing for the year ahead,” said Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive. “Demand from the UK’s prospering domestic market is driving growth, buoyed by a strong appetite from overseas buyers, with exports in February up by more than 13% on the same month last year.”

If you’d like more details, here’s a table with full details of February’s CV manufacturing output:

CV manufacturing Feb-14 Feb-15 % Change YTD-14 YTD-15 % Change
Total 6,239 8,344 33.7% 12,946 13,787 6.5%
Home 2,967 4,632 56.1% 6,438 7,973 23.8%
Export 3,272 3,712 13.4% 6,508 5,814 -10.7%
% export 52.4% 44.5% 50.3% 42.2%

Data courtesy of SMMT (www.smmt.co.uk)

Catering supplier bakes Van Excellence into fleet operations

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Millers Vanguard Mercedes-Benz SprintersThe Freight Transport Association’s Van Excellence scheme is akin to a scaled back version of rules and regulations under which heavy goods vehicle operators have to monitor and maintain their fleets.

Van Excellence was conceived as a way of addressing concerns that widespread poor compliance — on weight, for example — and minimal regulation was tarnishing the reputation of van operators, who had no way of demonstrating their professionalism to customers or compliance agencies.

The scheme has gained some heavyweight members over the last few years, including BT Fleet, Ford, and Hertz Van Rental.

One of the latest firms to join the scheme is Lancashire-based catering equipment supplier and maintenance firm, Millers Vanguard, whose 240-strong Mercedes-Benz van fleet has now been accredited by the FTA Van Excellence scheme.

Interestingly, the move to join Van Excellence was driven by the firm’s newish fleet manager, Nick Webb, who joined the company a year ago from a background in truck operations — where compliance and monitoring burdens are much heavier.

Mr Webb was keen to introduce a set of consistent, measurable standards across the company’s light commercial vehicle fleet, and said that Van Excellence appeared to be tailor-made for the purpose:

“We run 100 vans from our headquarters but the rest are out with engineers across the UK, which makes ensuring compliance and best practice even trickier than usual. Van Excellence proved to be an invaluable tool to ensure a uniform approach across the fleet; it allowed us to draw a line in the sand below which standards must never fall.

“We implemented various solutions to achieve our end goals, such as instigating daily walk-round checks and ensuring the cleanliness of vehicles. Since then we’ve been continually refining and improving our processes to make them quick and simple to implement from a driver’s point of view, and easily monitored for the fleet management team.”

Having worked through the Van Excellence list of qualifying criteria, and ensured all its standards were being met or exceeded across its fleet, Millers Vanguard submitted its application last October – then waited for the FTA to complete its comprehensive audit of a sample of 10 drivers and 10 vehicles.

There are three possible outcomes: operators are either told that they do or do not make the grade, or that they almost pass, in which case they are given a list of issues to address. Millers Vanguard passed with flying colours.

New Citroën Berlingo & Peugeot Partner to make UK debut at CV Show 2015

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Citroen Berlingo 2015

New 2015 Citroen Berlingo will make UK debut at CV Show 2015

The new Citroën Berlingo and Peugeot Partner small vans will make their UK debuts at the CV Show 2015, which takes place at the Birmingham NEC from 14-16 April.

While the styling and specification of both vans have been tweaked, the big change is that both models will now be available with Euro 6 engines.

Euro 6 is the latest European standard for emissions control and is particularly relevant for diesel engines at it includes much tougher legislation on nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.

These are responsible for respiratory and other health problems in urban areas, and while NOx levels should have fallen under Euro 5, it was found that the technology used for Euro 5 didn’t work very effectively in urban environments*. As a result, NOx levels didn’t fall by as much as expected following the widespread adoption of Euro 5.

Naturally, emissions control technology is getting more complex, as Citroën explains:

BlueHDi (Euro 6) powered New Berlingo models have an efficient, three-stage SCR process to treat emissions caused by combustion:

– Stage 1: an oxidisation catalyst converts the unburned hydrocarbons (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) in the exhaust into water and carbon dioxide (CO2)

– Stage 2: the SCR module then adds AdBlue to convert nitrogen oxide (NOx) into nitrogen (N) and water

– Stage 3: a particulate filter then eliminates 99.9% of particles in the vehicle’s exhaust emissions

BlueHDi powered New Berlingo vans have a 17-litre AdBlue tank, which will last for up to 14,000 miles, depending on the type of vehicle operation.

The Peugeot Partner is of course essentially the same van, and will have a near-identical range of engines. Both firms will wisely also offer a 1.6-litre petrol engine, which should win favour with low mileage urban operators and perhaps off-road users, such as airports, where speeds and distances are very low and do not allow a modern diesel to warm up and operate efficiently.

Peugeot will also continue to offer the Partner Van Electric, an all-electric model, while there will be a new Berlingo Electric Van (presumably using the same electric drivetrain).

What else is new?

I’ve written about both new vans previously (Berlingo & Partner), so I won’t repeat everything here, but to summarise, the main enhancements to each model are technological and safety related: Active City Brake, Hill Start Assist, tyre pressure sensors, cruise control and front and rear parking sensors and camera are all available as options, while the 2/3-seat cab seating format will continue to be available.

Payloads for the updated vans range from 625kg to 850kg, while inside a 7-inch touchscreen media system will also be available for the first time.

*https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/environment/ultra-low-emission-zone/user_uploads/ulez-supplementary-information—final-291014.pdf