Van News Story - VansA2Z.com

Citroën light commercials go Business Class

Citroën is continuing to improve the way in which its dealers interact with light commercial vehicle business customers by implementing what it calls Citroën Vans – Business Class.

Of its 200 dealerships, 90+ are designated as Business Centres. Participating dealers are required to make a significant commitment in terms of site investment, additional staff and continuous staff training.

During 2011 Citroën UK will continue to work closely with its dealer network to ensure that sales and aftersales service standards rise in line with customer requirements.

Dealers are at the heart of the Business Class programme, but that is not the end of the story. It also brings with it lower CO2, more fuel-efficient vans through the ongoing roll-out of Euro 5 engines across the model range as well as higher specifications with Enterprise range-topping versions and other range-expanding models. Not to mention the availability of Citroën’s Trafficmaster LCV telematics package across the board.

Business Centres
As well as having dedicated LCV sales staff, Business Centres also have specially trained LCV technical support staff. They have a wide range of LCVs in stock and on display, including specialist vehicles from the Ready to Run conversions programme.

On top of this there’s a wide selection of LCV demonstrators available, along with a large choice of Citroën-approved used LCVs.

Business Centres operate extended opening hours for both sales and service, offer a selection of while-you-wait service operations and have a variety of LCV courtesy vehicles available, including Dispatches and Relays.

Enterprise

First introduced in 2010, Citroën continues to offer high specification Nemo, Berlingo, Dispatch and Relay Enterprise models.

They all come with remote central locking, electric windows and electrically adjustable heated door mirrors as standard. Additionally, they have air conditioning, Bluetooth connectivity and rear parking sensors.

Trafficmaster
Trafficmaster’s Smartnav and Trackstar telematics package has been a standard fitment on all Berlingo, Dispatch and Relay vans since the beginning of 2010.

This can now be specified at the subsidised price of £399 (excl VAT) — including three years’ subscription — on Nemo, Berlingo First, Berlingo and Dispatch platform cabs, and Relay chassis and chassis crew cabs.

There’s also the option of including Trafficmaster's sophisticated Fleet Director real-time fleet management tool to the package. The subsidised cost is £19.99 (excl VAT) per month and it works with any Citroën Smartnav-equipped light commercial.

Euro 5

Nemo was the first Citroën van to have its engine upgraded to Euro 5 — see Video Launch Report — and the rest of the model line-up will follow suit during the year; beginning with the Berlingo 90hp (including Stop & Start) and Relay 180hp in Q2.

Q3 will see Dispatch and Relay 110hp and 130hp join the fray with the petrol Berlingo, 75hp and 90hp (without Start & Stop) diesels bringing up the rear in Q4. There’s no mention of the Berlingo First so we can only assume that it will cease to be available by the end of the year.

Ready to Work

New for 2011 is the Ready to Work programme of limited edition Tradesman models. These will have a carefully chosen set of extra features fitted to provide a platform which can be customised further to meet the requirements of a particular trade.

Available from March, the first of these is the Dispatch Tradesman. Citroën will produce 200 of them and they are based on the 1000 L1H1 HDi 90hp van.

The £1,000-worth of additional features include roof bars, anti-slip flooring, polypropylene load lining kit, full steel bulkhead, front fog lamps and Arctic Steel metallic paint. Priced at £16,385 it’s £665 more than the base model. Berlingo and Relay Tradesman special editions will become available later in the year.

Dispatch Crew Van

Citroën already has the most expansive off-the-shelf range of conversions of any light commercial vehicle manufacturer in its Ready to Run range, but it has added two more to the line-up for 2011.

First up is the six-seater Dispatch Crew Van. Developed by specialist company Snoeks Automotive of Holland, the conversion is carried out for Citroën by CoTrim, its UK agent. The transformation from three- to six-seater can be carried out on any Dispatch L1H1 or L2H1 1200 van.

All three rear seats have headrests and three-point belts, and the entire unit and its mountings are fully M1 compliant. The seats are trimmed to match those in the front and the rear floor features an anti-slip tailored rubber covering. Glazing and interior panel trimming for the sliding side doors are on the options list.

A solid bulkhead comes as standard, but to maximise load length items can extend under it and the rear seat squab. This gives potential load floor lengths of 1,810mm and 2,110mm for the L1 and L2 Dispatches respectively.

Prices for the Dispatch Crew Van start at £13,895, excluding VAT and delivery.

Supertrucks Space Van

Well known for its glass-carrier conversions, Supertrucks now has a new low-loading high-cube Space Van as part of the Ready to Run programme. Based on the Relay back-to-back cab and sporting an AL-KO chassis frame it’s available in two body deck lengths; 4,100mm or 4,500mm.

Ideal for a wide variety of low density, high volume applications, Space Van can offer load space of 20.4m³ or 22.3m³. Gross payload is dependent on body specification (type of rear doors etc.), but is around 1,300kg.

Fitted with standard rear suspension rear loading height is 550mm with a step height of 370mm. Go for the optional air suspension and these reduce to 370mm and 190mm respectively when its fully lowered. Prices start at £24,825 excluding VAT and delivery.

Verdict
Citroën has to be applauded for putting its 2011 cards on the table so early in what is going to be a busy year for the French manufacturer.