What’s Happening in the Van World Right Now? – September 2024
Every month, Van Expert Tim Cattlin takes a look at what’s been happening in the van industry – be it new products, industry news, legislation changes – even the weird and wonderful. It’s all here…
Probably the most important event in the van world calendar for 2024 is the IAA Transportation Show in Hannover, Germany which was held earlier in September. To be honest, when compared to the UK’s CV Show at the NEC earlier this year, by all accounts the IAA reigned supreme when it came to the quality of exhibitors, product launches and previews etc. Despite a last minute invite I was sadly unable to attend but, nevertheless I’ve gathered up all the important news…
Kia, in my view stole the show. The manufacturer has made no secret of its intention to make its mark on the European electric van market, and the show saw it display three concept versions of its vehicles, the PV5 van, PV5 People Mover and PV7 van. They are very futuristic looking, and the external design could raise some eyebrows, not just because of the aesthetics, but also practical considerations – for example, due to a large, integral front panel, knocks and scrapes could be expensive to fix. There’s little detail available, Kia suggesting that we won’t see production versions until summer 2025 but the company is already working on customer specific versions such as fridge vans and wheelchair accessible conversions. Kia is definitely one to watch and I reckon in 3 or 4 years time these vans will be commonplace on our roads
Renault had a couple of things to shout about. Although not exactly breaking news, the new Master large van was on display (and a hydrogen powered prototype, too), bearing the newly announced ‘International Van of the Year’ crown but, attracting more attention was the Estafette concept – a vehicle named after a van from the 60’s and 70’s that is apparently intended to replace the now ageing (but still excellent) Trafic van as soon as 2026. Its looks are a bit marmite in nature, but bear in mind that the van exhibited is a concept version and usually some of the more extreme design features get toned down a little by the time a vehicle makes it to production. The load bay dimensions are intriguing, the van’s footprint isn’t too dissimilar to the Renault Kangoo, but the 7.1 cubic metre load volume is similar to the Trafic. This is achieved by the Estafette’s 2.59 metre high body, allowing a direct ‘walk-through’ facility into the cab. This raises a few questions – medium van users often can’t use height but need length. There’s a possibility that this vehicle will fit into the newly created ‘large small’ van sector, currently dominated by the Volkswagen ID Buzz Cargo and Maxus eDeliver 5. It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out as, on the face of it if Renault discontinues the Trafic in favour of the Estafette, the company will be without a medium sized van…
Ford Pro chose the show to display the Ranger PHEV, a hybrid version of the UK’s best selling pickup. Manufacturers are having difficulty in making a practical, attractive to customers transition to fully electric pickups, customer resistance, weight, and vulnerability of the battery pack and drivetrain to off-road damage has seen the only contender so far, the 2-wheel drive Maxus T90EV struggle to make inroads into the sector. Ford has opted for the halfway house, the Ranger PHEV combining a 2.3-litre petrol engine, a 10-speed automatic gearbox and a 75kW electric motor. This offers the driver a whopping 690Nm of torque and an electric driving range of over 27 miles from the 11.8kW battery. What’s more, the all-important 3500kg towing capacity and tax friendly 1000kg+ payload are present and correct. Those eager to operate in a more environmentally friendly manner but who, as yet, are unable to buy a workable, fully electric pickup could find the Ranger PHEV a very attractive proposition – it’s got quite a bit going for it. Expect to see it on the road from next spring.
But – hold the front page – enter stage left the Maxus eTerron9, the successor to the T90EV. This time, Maxus has perhaps learnt from the shortcomings of the predecessor, the new pickup having four wheel drive, the front wheels being driven by a 167hp motor and the rear axle benefiting from a punchy 268hp unit. The truck is around 13cm longer than the Ford Ranger, and has a unique push-button operated load deck drop facility, allowing for easier loading and unloading. Range from the decent sized 102kWh battery is claimed to be up to 267 miles. Although the eTerron9 has the much desired 3500kg towing capacity, the payload of around 620kg may well be enough to put many serious pickup users off, as it puts the truck in the same, tax-unfriendly territory currently occupied by the Ford Raptor. Given how diesel pickups only just crack the 1000kg barrier, it’s no wonder that manufacturers are struggling to make an electric truck with a heavy battery achieve the same capacity.
Somehow, it doesn’t seem like breaking news, given that Volkswagen has been drip feeding us snippets and teaser images of the new Transporter for quite some time now but, finally, the van broke cover at the IAA show, the Ford Transit Custom clone (VW won’t like that, but to all intents and purposes, it’s true) on show in all its glory. We’ve already seen the fruits of the VW / Ford commercial agreement in the shape of the Amarok / Ranger and Caddy / Connect, but given that the Transporter and Custom are fighting for position in the ultra-competitive medium van sector, it’ll be interesting to see how each manufacturer fares when directly battling each other with very similar vehicles. There are some modest differences between the vehicles, but I can’t see any huge USP’s that one has over the other. I’m guessing customer choice will be swayed by the deals on offer, the proximity of the local dealer and, especially with Volkswagen, brand allegiance.
Other snippets? Volkswagen showed a lightly refreshed Crafter van – the updates are mainly restricted to a new interior and infotainment system, and this update was also present on the MAN stand with the almost identical TGE van getting the same upgrade.
You’ve probably now heard of BYD, the Chinese car manufacturer now investing heavily in the UK market. They’ve drip fed a few, cheap, small electric vans into the UK already, but the show saw the company preview a couple of large vans, very similar to the ill fated Arrival vehicle which disappeared after Arrival went bust. These big vans are a little niche, but, don’t be surprised to see BYD emulate Kia in the not too distant future – the company looks like it’s here to stay and has big intentions…