Mercedes-Benz Citan

Citan is the name of the new urban delivery van from Mercedes-Benz which is scheduled for an autumn launch this year.  The name “Citan” was announced at the Mercedes-Benz Design Centre in Sindelfingen and is derived from the words “City” and “Titan”, to emphasise urban ”city driving” with the rough and tumble of everyday working life.

The Citan promises a robust and durable package with a generous load compartment with compact dimensions, allied to typical attributes of the Mercedes-Benz brand such as quality, economic efficiency, safety and dynamic driving. The choice of drive systems will comprise of a broad range of economical and low-emission diesel and petrol engines – including a BlueEFFICIENCY package, with a version powered by an electric engine already being planned.

Mercedes-Benz Citan

The new Citan urban delivery van was developed and tested to the same standards as its larger Sprinter and Vito siblings and as with every Mercedes-Benz, the controls, the interior, the quality of materials and workmanship safety is paramount, with ESP standard specification for all variants.

The Citan urban delivery van offers a broad range of potential commercial uses and will be available as a panel van, crewbus or Mixto in various lengths and weight categories.  Market launch of the Citan will take place in the autumn of 2012 and it will be on show to the general public for the first time in September, at the IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Hanover.

In the meantime if you are interested in Mercedes Benz van contract hire then we have the latest models on the site now.

City Emergency Braking on the up!

The Volkswagen up! is not even on UK roads yet, but it has just been awarded the title of What Car? Car of the Year 2012, as well as Best City Car, at the What Car? Awards.

Volkswagen had a successful night at the motor industry’s annual ‘Oscars’, which was held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. The Golf was voted the top Small Family Car category for the sixth time overall and fourth consecutive year, and Volkswagen also won the coveted Safety Award.

Commenting on the awards, What Car? editor-in-chief Chas Hallett said: ‘The Volkswagen up! sets new standards for a car at £10,000.  It’s a city car that can seat four adults, while offering new levels of refinement, quality and maturity at this price; none of its rivals feels quite so grown-up.  Buyers will be looking for even more for their money than ever in 2012, so the up! is a worthy winner of the What Car? Car of the Year.’

Meanwhile the Safety Award was in large part the result of the availability of Volkswagen’s new City Emergency Braking system on the up!.  The What Car? judges were impressed by this particular example of ‘big car’ technology filtering down to a smaller model and the system uses sensors to scan the space ahead. It then applies the brakes automatically if it detects that the car is about to hit an object in front. 

Director of Volkswagen UK, Chris Craft, said: ‘We are absolutely delighted with the awards we have received from What Car? this year.  The magazine continues to be one of the most thorough and important sources of new car buying information for UK customers and winning the overall Car of the Year accolade gives our new city car, the up!, the best introduction to the UK market that we could have hoped for”.

First models should arrive in UK showrooms in March and Volkswagen contract hire on the up! range is on the site now.

The full list of category winners at the What Car? Awards 2012 is below.

Mercedes-Benz Sprinter

The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter has just been voted Best Large Panel Van for the fourth year running at the Fleet Van Awards 2011. Trevor Gelken, editor of Fleet Van, said,”The judges felt (apart from the VW Crafter which comes off the same line as the Sprinter) no other van came close to the Sprinter in terms of build quality, technology, reliability and sheer good driving experience”.

The Fleet Van Awards are judged by a number of industry experts including George Alexander, Editor of Glass’s Guide to Commercial Vehicles, Alastair Houston, Regional Manager of Northgate Vehicle Hire and Stephen Briers from Fleet News.

Steve Bridge, Van Sales and Marketing Director for Mercedes-Benz UK, said,”We are thrilled to have received such a fantastic accolade for our trusty and reliable Sprinter van. To win any award once is a great achievement, but to win the Fleet Van Large Panel Van award for four consecutive years is truly an outstanding triumph”. Mercedes-Benz contract hire on the Sprinter range is on the site now.

Mercedes-Benz Vito E-CELL

The all-electric Mercedes-Benz Vito E-CELL van has been awarded the “Most energy efficient light commercial vehicle (in production)” at the 2011 RAC Future Car Challenge. The Vito E-CELL took part in the 60-mile route from Brighton to London and was the most efficient vehicle in its class.

The Mercedes-Benz Vito E-CELL is the first battery-electric van to be introduced (ex factory) by any vehicle manufacturer and its emission-free drive system is ideally suited to operation in inner-cities and other environmentally sensitive areas. With zero emissions, almost silent running and no restrictions on load capacity or payload, the Vito E-CELL looks set to be a resounding success story in the commercial vehicle sector.

Xmas cards

As Christmas is fast approaching you might be interested in buying your Christmast cards for your friends and family from the Guild of Motoring Writers this year. The Christmas cards are available in single or mixed packs for £1 per card, £6.50 for 10 and £55 for 100, with all proceeds going to the Guild Benevolent Fund.

Two of the cards in the range feature some iconic stars of the motorworld sport with a stunning image of Stirling Moss racing his Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR ,with navigator Denis Jenkinson, in the 1955 Mille Miglia and Juan Manuel Fangio driving an Alfa Romeo 150 Alfetta.

You can order your cards via www.gomw.co.uk

BMW 3 Series

The UK’s largest vehicle reliability survey has been conducted by Fleet News with the top FN50 vehicle leasing companies (by fleet size), who run in excess of 1.2 million cars and vans. This annual analysis asks the leasing companies to rank the best vehicles and manufacturers for reliability, with tables then created for a top 10 for cars and a top 5 for vans (see below).

German brands have dominated the results this year for both the car and van category, with the BMW 3 Series the most reliable car (and top car brand), the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter knocking the Ford Transit off the top spot for most reliable van, with Volkswagen leaping ahead of Ford overall, in the van reliability league table.

Fleet News Editor, Stephen Briers, said, “BMW has built on its position as most reliable car manufacturer supplying the UK’s largest contract hire companies, adding another attribute to low CO2 emissions, modest overall running costs and rewarding driver behaviour and making its cars more desirable to fleet operators”.

Volkswagen vans

On vans, Stephen said,”Van reliability is arguably more important than car reliability as vital supply chains can be disrupted through unnecessary vehicle downtime. Volkswagen has demonstrated with its leading position as a van manufacturer, and high placing for its models, that fleet operators can choose its vehicles in confidence”

Most reliable cars according to top FN50 leasing companies

1. BMW 3 Series
2. Honda Accord
3. Volkswagen Golf
4. Audi A3
5. Toyota Avensis
6. Nissan Qashqai
7. Volkswagen Passat
8. Audi A4
9. Mazda6
10. BMW 5 Series

Most reliable car manufacturers

1. BMW
2. Audi
3. Honda
4. Volkswagen
5. Toyota
6. Nissan
7. Mercedes-Benz
8. Ford
9. Lexus
10. Skoda

Most reliable vans

1. Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
2. Ford Transit
3. Volkswagen Caddy
4. Ford Transit Connect
5. Volkswagen Transporter

Most reliable van manufacturers

1. Volkswagen
2. Ford
3. Mercedes-Benz
4. Fiat
5. Renault 

Mercedes-Benz Vito van

The Managing Director of Birmingham based GG Logistics , Glenn Gane, has just won a brand new Mercedes-Benz Vito 110CDI van after entering the recent Mercedes-Benz Made For the People competition. Mr Gane has decided to sell the van and to make a charitable donation to a number of good causes including the British Heart Foundation, Cure Leukaemia, Diabetes UK as well as giving £5,000 to the family of a former colleague who was sadly killed last year.

Kevin Ferris, Van Marketing Manager at Mercedes-Benz UK, said,”We are really pleased that Glenn won the competition and is doing something really charitable and ethical with his prize, giving those less fortunate than himself a chance to also benefit from winning the competition”.

smart fortwo cdi

The smart fortwo cdi has just won the “Overall Best MPG” title in the recent Fleet World MPG Marathon 2011, recording a stunning 99.24 mpg over the 370.9 mile course. This is the most frugal result ever recorded in the 11-year history of the competition and this is the third year the car has won this award.

The smart cdi fortwo cdi only emits CO2 emissions of 86g/km from its 54bhp engine and is an ideal car for running round a city or town. Gary Savage Mercedes-Benz said,”smart has been pushing the boundaries of environmental motoring for 13 years now, and as well as being frugal, it’s also fun to drive. Next year the electric drive goes on sale, which doesn’t emit any local emissions at all”.

Lightning GT

The British designed and built Lightning GT supercar has been entered into the 2011 RAC Future Car Challenge which is on the 5th November. The 60-mile route is from Madeira Drive in Brighton to London’ Regent Street with the challenge for each entrant to use as little energy as possible.

The Lightning GT has two electric motors providing 300kW (about 400hp) to the rear wheels and has a 0-60mph time of just 5 seconds, with a top speed of 125mph. The range of the car is over 150 miles and with the addition of the range extender pack this increases to 225 miles. Charging takes as little as 10 minutes with an”ultrafast” off-board charger, 2.5 hours with the on-board charger and 15 hours from a domestic charger (using an adaptor).

There are around 80 low-energy pioneering cars competing in the RAC event from hybrid, hydrogen and low emission combustion engine cars and commercial vehicles, with manufacturers such as Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota , Nissan, Vauxhall, Skoda and Volkswagen all participating.

If you are interested in leasing a low emission, fuel efficient car, then try the Vehicle Type Leasing Shopper where you can select the bodystyle, CO2 emissions target and combined mpg you require.

Mini E

BMW and Mini will both participate in the forthcoming 2011 RAC Future Car Challenge which will take place on Saturday the 5th November, the day before the RAC’s famous London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. The RAC Future Car Challenge starts at Madeira Drive in Brighton and the challenge is to drive to London using the least energy possible, within the 2hrs 45 minimum and 3hrs 30min maximum time permitted.

A BMW 320d Efficient Dynamics saloon car will be joined by two all-electric, emission free concept vehicles, the BMW ActiveE and Mini E. The BMW 320d Efficient Dynamics is the greenest production car that BMW has ever built and is capable of CO2 emissions of 110g/km and a remarkable 68.9 combined mpg. This car is no slouch however and still manages a 0-62mph time of eight seconds and on to a top speed of 142mph. 

The Mini E has already been proving its capabilities with a six months trial with 40 volunteers and this all-electric car has a 150kW (200bhp) electric motor powering the front wheels and offers a range of around 156 miles. The Mini E is just one phase in the BMW Project i scheme, that will see the launch of a mass-produced electric vehicle, the BMW i3 in 2013.

The BMW ActiveE will also undertake a series of six-month trials with over 1,000 volunteers worldwide and is another evolution in BMW’s Project i scheme. The ActiveE has a 168hp electric synchronous motor which propels the car from 0-60mph in in nine seconds and on to a limited top speed of 90mph. Recharging can be performed via a 13A or 32A power supply and takes around eight or five hours respectively. The car also has regenerative braking which helps extend the range to 100 miles between charges.

In addition to these BMW and Mini models, other car manufacturers will be bringing a range of their hybrid, hydrogen and low-emission internal combustion cars and light-commercial vans to the event. Last year car manufacturers such as Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Nissan, Vauxhall, Skoda and Volkswagen attended. This year the total number of entries has been increased to 90, with a range of awards in up to 22 different categories, as well as by their power source.