News
PLATFORM-SHARING STRATEGY STELLANTIS ENDORSES
tellantis believes its multi-brand platform strategy can succeed across Europe due to customer loyalty to particular nameplates in individual markets, despite the group building near-identical vans for four manufacturers, Citroen, Peugeot, Fiat Professional and Opel/Vauxhall, across the compact, medium and large van sectors.
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“Most of our brands are domestic in most of the key markets,” Xavier Peugeot, senior vice president, Stellantis Commercial Vehicles Business Unit, told What Van?
“Seventy per cent of customers put trust in the brand as the main reason for purchase. “In the UK, most would spontaneously
go with Vauxhall,” Peugeot added. He said customer loyalty to distinct brands was something Stellantis wanted to “keep alive”.
Peugeot highlighted style differences between the brands in the Stellantis portfolio, saying the front end of each manufacturer’s vans bore its brand signature while other distinctions included Peugeot’s i cockpit, Citroen’s reinforced comfort seats, Opel/Vauxhall’s emphasis on technology and Fiat Professional’s Magic Cargo space innovation.
Stellantis is to renew its entire line-up of vans in 2024 with the launch of new models across its platforms in the compact, medium and large van market sectors. Peugeot believes the greatest growth potential lies in the large van sector, claiming Stellantis already leads the European market in compact and medium vans.
The product renewal programme will see Citroen introduce a new Berlingo, Dispatch and Relay, Fiat Professional introduce a new Doblo, Scudo and
FLEETS TO TARGET
rogressing the deployment of zero-emission vans is top of the agenda for fleets in 2024,
according to the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP), but chair, Paul Hollick, said there were practical and strategic issues to be overcome. Hollick said: “The view of most van fleets is that electrification, which
Ducato, Peugeot introduce a new Partner, Expert and Boxer and Vauxhall introduce a new Combo, Vivaro and Movano. Updated battery-electric technology will be available across all nameplates, according to Stellantis, delivering
increased range of up to 261 miles for the large vans on the WLTP cycle, 87 miles more than the current maximum. Medium vans will have a claimed range of 224 miles and compact vans 205 miles.
ZERO-EMISSION VANS IN 2024 P
obviously forms the backbone of the move towards zero emissions, is going to be an incremental process because of compromises imposed by the current technology when it comes to key areas such as payload, range and charging. “For us, it appears that making progress in these areas – and the incremental best practice policies that
need to be developed to make this happen – will be the dominant fleet topic for 2024.”
Hollick suggested the most immediate problem was resolving issues around the 4.25t electric van derogation, intended to allow electric LCVs to weigh up to 4.25t, rather than the usual 3.5t, to account for the increased weight of their batteries. He said the issue had been beset by a degree of confusion that had caused many fleets to cancel or delay orders but that the AFP was seeking workable solutions.
“Being able to operate 4.25t electric panel vans is central to many fleets’ zero emissions plans and this is something that is very much acting as a roadblock to progress.” Hollick said a longer-term topic that needed addressing was finding solutions to van charging, with both rapid proliferation of on-street chargers
8 WhatVan? January 2024
and better access to forecourt charging facilities needed. He said: “Where drivers can charge a van on their driveway overnight, fleet operations have a head start. However, around half live in terraced houses or apartments.
“The ideal solution is on-street charging and the AFP has been working on a national ‘heat map’ to show where these are most needed, making the data available to relevant parties such as local authorities and charger companies. “Also, we’ve been talking to charging companies about better access to forecourt chargers. Simply, the bays are often not big enough or aren’t designed to accommodate light commercial vehicles. “Like on-street charging, this is not a problem that will be solved overnight but we are hopeful that progress will be made on both these fronts in 2024.”
www.whatvan.co.uk
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