In the big van business, the big story is the launch of the new Citroen Relay, which will be coming to Ireland probably in mid-summer. I'm not going into details at this point, but they have certainly smartened up the looks and the driver comfort. Build partners Peugeot and Fiat didn't have their versions on view.
Then there's the new Opel Vivaro, and they did have a Opel version on the stand just to confuse the Vauxhall-centred UK visitors. More practical, more efficient, more comfort and driving ease, according to the company. Longer bodies and brand new engines feature. At the moment, word is that it'll be in Ireland in the autumn. Renault showed their new Trafic version in a number of interesting variants.
But we'll see the revised Opel Movano big van in the autumn, mainly a new engines upshift though the Renault Master version seems to have more design tweaks.
Ford have all their Transit range on stand, including the new Transit Courier small van which we haven't got yet in Ireland. I've seen it before, and today it still looks like it will do the business for the company.
They also featured the pop-top Campervan built on the Tourneo Custom which is attracting a lot of interest here ... it's a country where a lot of people like to holiday on their own wheels, so there's a strong opportunity to take business from the currently dominant Germans and Italians.
Finally for now, the Twizy Commercial Ready4Work here is a 'van' version of the electric single-seat 4-wheeler. Not sure if they'll convince many.
More for the van fans later.
