The show, organised by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), is on track for a full take-up of the available space by exhibitors.
Entry for visitors is free, and having had more than 20,000 attend last year the SMMT is expecting another bumper turn-out this time.
Alongside the regular stands, special features will include the Workshop zone, focusing on maintenance, the Cool zone geared towards transporting temperature-controlled goods, and the Innovation Hub, which will feature experts speaking on emerging tech.
On the following pages, we pick out what some of the major exhibitors will have in store for showgoers.
VW
The CV Show will see Volkswagen debuting Business Edition packs. Available to specify on Caddy, Transporter and Crafter panel van models, VW says these bundle together options commonly specified by business customers for a cheaper price.
The packs on the Caddy and Transporter, available for £950 and £975 respectively with Startline trim, add an alarm, rear parking sensors and aircon.
The pack for the Crafter, available for £1,250 with Startline and Trendline trims, adds the same plus two remote folding keys with the alarm and an overhead storage compartment in the cab.
VW will also be offering information on its mobile service clinics, 10 of which are now on the road with at least 10 more due by the end of 2018.
Showgoers will also see a demo of the augmented reality headsets Volkswagen is trialling for its technicians. Experts at the firm’s head office can see what the technician sees through the headsets and guide them through the job both verbally and by displaying images and information in front of the technician.
Toyota
Taking centre stage on the Toyota stand will be the Hilux pick-up. The manufacturer will be giving a European premiere to a new top-of-the-range version of the model, featuring a redesigned front end and interior improvements.
This year is the 50th anniversary of the Hilux, and Toyota will be marking this with a special edition model, which is also set to appear on the stand. Limited to 150 examples in the UK, this will be available with auto transmission only.
Also appearing will be the new Land Cruiser Commercial, which marks the first time Toyota has entered the UK commercial SUV market.
Available in three- and five-door guises, Toyota says the model will “enhance and complement” its CV line-up alongside the Hilux and Proace and its bespoke conversion programme announced last year.
Ford
Market leader Ford will be holding the official European launch of facelifted versions of the UK’s bestselling van, the Transit Custom (pictured), along with the passenger-carrying Tourneo.
The new Transit Custom features exterior and interior changes, including a new steering wheel, new seats and an 8in touchscreen with Ford’s Sync 3 infotainment system. The van’s blind spot information system will now have cross-traffic alert, and it also gets adaptive cruise control with pedestrian detection.
The firm will also stage the official launch of a revised Transit Connect and Tourneo Connect, show a revised Transit Courier, and exhibit a new special edition Ranger pick-up.
Other features of the stand will be a multi-modal delivery solution, involving bikes, and there will also be news regarding connectivity.
Ford is placing a lot of emphasis on the show, with the manufacturer updating its entire CV portfolio over the next 18 months.
Product marketing manager Iain Brooks said: “It’s the biggest stand we have done to date in the UK.”
Allstar
A major focus of the April Birmingham show for the fuel card provider will be its Allstar Plus card.
Largely aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises that want more than just a fuel card, it has a Visa card built in, but with controls. This means, for example, that a building company could authorise its drivers to use the card at builders’ merchants.
Isuzu
Isuzu is keeping its cards close to its chest ahead of the show. It says there will be two unveilings, one of which will be a limited edition model.
It will also be exhibiting two conversions, the exact details of which are to be confirmed.
The manufacturer says that this year it is aiming to build on a successful 2017, which saw the launch of the D-Max pick-up.
Renault
Renault’s first large electric van, the Master Z.E. (pictured), will take pride of place on its stand.
The manufacturer, which will be making its 20th appearance at the event, will also display a selection of its LCV conversions among a total of 13 vehicles.
The Master Z.E., which uses the same 33kW battery as the Kangoo Z.E. light van, will go on sale in the fourth quarter of the year.
A fridge-van conversion of the Kangoo Z.E. will also make an appearance, and other highlights include a UK debut for the latest Trafic Camper Van conversion, a new aluminium tipper fitted to the Master double-cab, and a Master temperature-controlled pharmaceutical delivery van from the Renault Tech line of factory-fitted conversions.
The Renault Tech Master parcel delivery van will also make its UK debut.
It features a walk-through bulkhead and racking designed in conjunction with UPS. The Trafic Formula Edition with Renault’s Ready4Work racking, designed by Sortimo, will also be displayed.
Vincent Tourette, Renault’s UK MD, said: “The Commercial Vehicle Show is always a great opportunity for us to introduce both new and existing customers to our latest product developments.”
BT Fleet Solutions
New apps are being unveiled by BT Fleet Solutions.
The Daily Vehicle Checker app gives drivers an easy way to perform essential legislative checks, and a new accident management app takes drivers through vital procedures after an accident.
The latter is the first in a suite of accident management solutions, which will include detailed data insight and accident-avoidance initiatives.
MAN
Having used last year’s CV Show to launch its first van, the TGE, MAN is using this year’s event to complete the range.
The show will see the launch of the 3.5t gross vehicle weight (GVW) rear-wheel drive model.
Also launched will be MAN’s Vans to Go programme, featuring a range of bodied vehicles marketed through its nationwide dealer network. These bodies will include Lutons, tippers and dropsides – which MAN says have all been designed to complement its Trucks to Go programme.
MAN says it has teamed up with leading LCV convertors to provide a one-stop shop solution, with the conversion partners set to be announced at the show.
Visitors to the stand will also be able to find out more about MAN’s Fleet Management programme.
The manufacturer’s UK managing director, Thomas Hemmerich, says: “The attraction of the CV Show for MAN is not just the number of visitors, but the quality of the visitors. It offers us tremendous networking opportunities and allows us to greet existing customers whilst at the same time meet and build relationships with new customers.”
Chevin
Chevin Fleet Solutions will be demonstrating its latest innovations at this year’s event.
These include its data collection app FleetWave Forms (pictured), an automated driver licence-checking system upgraded to include e-consent, support for the DVSA’s Earned Recognition pilot, and Workshop Hub, a system which is designed to deliver essential job information for technicians on a tablet or smartphone.
Fleetcheck
Fleet management and vehicle tracking software firm FleetCheck will be launching a new online maintenance and repair service.
Garage Link provides a single access point to thousands of garages nationwide and allows pre-authorisation of work for absolute cost clarity, centralised billing, and automatic loading of all information into FleetCheck’s fleet management software.
Ingimex
Ingimex celebrates its 45th anniversary this year. The firm, which makes and installs specialist bodies for the likes of VW, Vauxhall, Iveco, Ford and Citroen, will use the CV Show to showcase its range of lightweight dropside, tipper and Luton vans, which it says offer industry-leading payloads with increased efficiency and reduced environmental impact.
Eberspacher
Temperature-control specialist Eberspacher says a big focus at the show will be its all-electric technology, such as its Coldtainer refrigerated insulated containers.
Available in capacities of between 22 and 1,640 litres, the firm says these are ideal for electric vans.
The company will also use the show to launch its 2018 model-year Airtronic D2 and D4 diesel-fuelled air heaters (pictured), a new Cooltronic Slim hatch-mounted cooler, and new evaporators for air-conditioning systems.
Intelligent Telematics
Intelligent Telematics will launch a 3G multi-camera system. The firm says it will integrate with its software platform, so operators can combine a range of internal and external camera options to see what really happened in a collision.
The system will be suitable for up to four internal and external cameras and use a solid-state mobile digital video recorder (DVR) for optimum performance.
Paneltex
Among the Paneltex exhibits at the show will be a Ford Transit skeletal chassis with a side-loading home-delivery body.
This has been designed with a low access height and no side step for easier loading.
Also on display will be a new Somers Volkswagen Crafter, featuring a dual-temperature load bay with both frozen and chilled compartments.
Jaama
The Jaama stand will showcase new features for the firm’s MyVehicle app.
These include retaining a historic record of vehicle defects, a function for taking photos of critical defects and attaching an off-road vehicle status, a facility that reduces vehicle downtime by combining non-urgent defects into one job, the ability to log vehicle checks even when no defects are found, and drivers being restricted from adding a vehicle to the app if they do not have the required licence to drive it.
SmartWitness
SmartWitness will unveil two new products. The DDC100 camera uses infrared imaging and AI machine learning to detect mobile phone usage, tiredness and fatigue at the wheel, while the SmartEye collision-avoidance system checks for lane deviation, vehicle distance, pedestrians and cyclists, and sends alerts to avoid impending incidents.
Both can run live updates to fleet managers.
TrakM8
TrakM8 will showcase two of its innovations. The RH600 is a 4G camera integrating telematics with live-streaming dash cam tech, providing fleet managers with an all-in-one solution that is available as either a single camera, or a dual camera that monitors the driver as well as the road ahead.
Also at the show will be TrackM8 Prime, a vehicle-tracking solution for small to medium-sized fleets that can be bought online.
