Van Guard News

Volkswagen cars and commercial vehicles have scooped a trio of awards at the Fleet World and Van Fleet World Honours ceremony. The Volkswagen Caddy and Crafter vans collected awards as ‘Best Small Van’ and ‘Best Large Van’, while the Golf was named Best Fleet Car. These achievements come hot on the heels of two accolades claimed last month in the Professional Van & Light Truck Awards.

Fiat wants a bigger slice of the fleet van market, and newly appointed UK CV director Gerry Clarke says he knows exactly how to get it. “Up until now we have been excellent at getting the one-man-band business,” says Clarke, who moves to the UK from his previous post in Turin. “But this sector only accounts for 20% of UK van sales. Now we need to expand our presence in the fleet sector.” Clarke says the company is already making an impact in the Royal Mail fleet. Last year it took delivery of… 350 Doblo vans, and last week a repeat order at an increased level was announced. “It tells us that this decision is based on the van’s performance, in particular driver feedback and reliability,” he says.

It’s a done deal. The ink is dried over last week’s sale of DaimlerChrysler Corp.’s Chrysler Group to Cerberus Capital Management.

Of the number of vehicles spawned during the nine-year collaboration between Mercedes and Chrysler, one stands out among the largest — the Dodge Sprinter commercial van.

With six first places, the Volkswagen Group was the most successful company in “Company Cars of the Year 2007”, an event organized by the specialist journal “Firmenauto” and DEKRA, the German motor vehicle inspection association.

Renault’s New Trafic has only been on sale for a matter of months and already it has collected its second magazine award. Picking up from where it left off at the What Van? 2006 Awards in November, Trafic has just scooped the Standard Panel Van award at the Professional Van and Light Truck Awards 2007, held recently during the CV Show at the NEC, Birmingham.

Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Trost (48), the developer of Mercedes-Benz Active Brake Assist for commercial vehicles, has been presented with the 2007 European Commercial Vehicle Safety award. The technical appraisal organisation DEKRA, the German Traffic Safety Council (DVR) and the European Association for Accident Research and Analysis (EVU) have honoured the head of the Driver Assistance Systems department at DaimlerChrysler AG for his outstanding contribution to the development of Active Brake Assist, which considerably improves the operating safety of commercial vehicles. The award was presented at the 2nd DEKRA Active Safety Symposium in Klettwitz (Brandenburg).

Citroen has just launched its new, expanded and innovative 2007 Ready to Run one-stop vehicle programme, which now includes the recently launched, all-new Citroen Dispatch and Relay ranges.

Leeds-based Naylors Garage has taken delivery of the first Iveco Daily City Artic to be built on the new Daily light commercial vehicle chassis.

The continued popularity of the minivan, despite the fast growing SUV and crossover markets, and less competition from Ford and GM as they discontinue their minivan lines, leaves Chrysler the sole domestic automaker in the segment. Now the automaker is looking to tap its German patron’s diesel technology.

The three-day Commercial Vehicle Show and The Automotive Trade Show opened its doors at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, today 24 April.

Robin Dickeson from The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and Press Officer for the show said today, “This is the largest commercial vehicle show in Europe and there is no other annual business-to-business show of this kind.”