Utility companies help keep van market afloat

Date: Monday, May 11, 2009

Two major utilities have placed big orders for vans as the UK light commercial market continues to struggle.

A whopping 5,300 Volkswagen Caddy vans will be going into action with British Gas engineers over the next two years, joining 1,000 identical models already in service with the company’s fleet. It is VW’s biggest-ever UK light commercial fleet deal.

Each Caddy will be equipped with bespoke load area racking plus a limiter restricting its top speed to 70mph. Likely to remain with British Gas for four years, the newcomers will clock up an average of 12,000 miles annually; upwards of 254m miles in total.

Turning to Fiat, the increasingly ambitious Italian manufacturer has supplied 101 Grande Punto vans to power company E.ON’s meter reading division. Subject to a five year contract hire agreement with Lloyds TSB Autolease, they’ll cover around 30,000 miles annually apiece.

All the vehicles are equipped with air conditioning, reverse parking sensors and a rear window protection grille along with a speed limiter and an alarm.

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