What Van? Britain's biggest and best van buyers' guide

Iveco’s Daily van retained the What Van? Large Van Award in 2016 to cement its position as the outstanding product in its class.

The mission now for the brand is to put it in front of enough people to further build up its presence in the retail market.

Ian Lumsden, Iveco UK’s director of Light Business line, which covers the Daily van, the manufacturer’s only product in the LCV market up to 3.5 tonnes, says the recognition the What Van? prize helps to put the Daily on customers’ radars.

“It makes people consider an Iveco Daily, rather than, say, a Mercedes [Sprinter],” he says.

Lumsden explains that as a rear-wheel drive model, the Sprinter is the Daily’s natural competitor, with both models noted for their ability to soak up the sort of punishment that would see other big vans wilt under the strain.

“It [the award] shows we’ve got a vehicle that measures up,” Lumsden adds.

Iveco is to open five more dealerships this year to take its total selling the Daily up to 65. Lumsden says the new additions are authorised repairers that the brand has persuaded to go into sales too.

He calculates that each outlet needs one salesperson who is able to shift at least 40 Daily vans a year. This would amount to a total of 2600 retail units to complement the big fleet deals with the likes of supermarket giants Tesco and Asda. All in all, the network employs a sales workforce of 150, but Lumsden insists Iveco does not want to buy market share through striking deals with rental companies.

While Lumsden says the hard graft the Daily vans on Tesco and Asda’s fleets put in should act as “a parts machine” for the workshops, he laments the new model’s reliability.

“Nothing’s breaking – it could kill us!” he jokes.

Lumsden acknowledges that Iveco cannot compete with the likes of Ford and Vauxhall when it comes to market exposure.

“We can’t get to the high street,” he says – unless the brand was to share dealerships with Fiat Professional (both manufacturers belong to the Fiat Group), but he admits no plans are afoot for this to happen.

With Iveco’s strong presence in the HGV sector, Lumsden points out: “We don’t look from 3.5 tonnes down, we look from 3.5 tonnes up.” Therefore, although Iveco’s sites can offer extended opening hours and out-of-hours servicing, they are not necessarily very accessible – particularly for owner-drivers, such as plumbers, electricians or painter/decorators who are more likely to plump for a manufacturer with a showroom in their local high street.

Where Iveco is succeeding, according to Lumsden, is in generating sales online – almost 80% in fact.

“We threw money at it last year,” he says.

Lumsden explains the manufacturer bought databases of van-using businesses in order to more accurately target customers, rather than, for example, spend the budget advertising on the radio.