If you think the Light Commercial Vehicle
market is unimportant in the greater scale of the automotive industry. It isn’t.
It is growing in importance every year and is more profitable per unit for the
manufacturers than many of the cars they sell!
In fact the UK market is the second largest in the world for
vans. Last year over 340,000 new vans were sold in the UK alone. So it is
entirely understandable that some manufacturers make a great play for the van
user.
Like Mercedes-Benz for instance. For the past 12 years the
company has been running an annual event called ‘Van Experience’ to which they
invite around 2,000 fleet buyers, users and owner operators over a period of
two weeks to sample the full range of product. The event is also used to
highlight new innovations like Start/Stop and Park Assist, automatic gearboxes
and leather rimmed steering wheels, not to mention the huge technical and
mechanical variety of the various models of Citan, new Vito and Sprinter ranges.
In total, the company had over 250 demonstrator vehicles on site.
That represents quite an investment in time and resources.
It also highlights just how much importance they attach to this event and to
its customers.
And that means ‘hands-on’ experience. Everybody gets a
chance to drive most products and it is all carefully stage managed and controlled
by professional drivers.
Guess who I bumped into managing the fleet of 4x4 Sprinters
at the Millbrook Proving Ground off-road course – one Mick Linford Esq. Old hands
will recognise the name from the heady days of Peugeot Sport rallying in the UK
when he worked with the legendary Des O’Dell. At least he’s earning an honest
buck these days - ahead of his 65th birthday.
Oh, and by the way, I certainly didn’t see or hear the new
McLaren P1 being tested around the 2 mile speed bowl or standing-start one mile
runway. Gawd, it sounded magnificent, but as I said, I didn’t hear it or see it
- officially!
