Sergio Marchionne, Chief Executive Officer of Fiat, and Jean-Martin Folz, Chief Executive Officer of PSA Peugeot Citroën, today unveiled a new family of compact light commercial vehicles at the Sevel Nord plant in northern France.
To be launched in mid-January 2007, the newcomers succeed the Fiat Scudo, Peugeot Expert and Citroën Dispatch, and keep their respective names.
These new compact light commercial vehicles are available in a broad range of body styles with volumes of 5 to 7m3 and payloads of 1,000 and 1,200 kg, allowing business users to select the right vehicle for their specific business needs.
In addition, the two groups are extending their ranges with a new passenger vehicle offering, the combi-van, a van-based large MPV seating up to nine passengers.
The new vehicles for both groups are produced in Valenciennes, northern France, at the Sevel Nord plant, with a workforce of nearly 4,400 employees and producing up to 130,000 units a year in three shifts.
The Sevel Nord site, which is operationally managed by PSA Peugeot Citroën, also assembles the Peugeot, Citroën, Fiat and Lancia brands' top-of-the-range MPVs.
To manufacture these diverse ranges of vehicles, priority action was given to modernising the workshops, redesigning logistics and improving workstation ergonomics. The Sevel Nord plant assembles as many as 14 different body styles on a single line: the top-of-the-range MPVs, the new compact light commercial vehicles and the combi-vans. Industrial investment for the production of these new compact light commercial vehicles and combi-vans totals €440 million.
Nearly one million units of the previous generation Fiat Scudo, Peugeot Expert and Citroën Dispatch models, launched in 1995, have so far been produced at the Sevel Nord plant. These light commercial vehicles helped trigger a boom in the compact light commercial vehicle segment in Europe with their novel car-like driveability, an offering not previously available in the light commercial vehicle market.
Following the renewal of their larger light commercial vehicle ranges: the Fiat Ducato, Citroën Relay and Peugeot Boxer, in May 2006, the two groups are continuing to rejuvenate their light commercial vehicle ranges.
The next step in this market offensive will occur in 2008 with the launch of a small new van manufactured in Turkey under Tofas management.
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