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July 2020

 The 2020 CV Show didn’t happen this year, but the new vans that would have been on show will still be launched later this year, or in 2021 – including a number of new electric vans.

Model reveals that we missed included the Citroën ë-Dispatch, Peugeot e-Expert and Vauxhall Vivaro e, as well as Fiat Professional’s eDucato, Toyota’s Proace EV, Maxus’ eDeliver3 and, from the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles stable, the ABT eTransporter and the London Electric Vehicle Company’s VN5.

Established electric vans from Nissan and Renault, the eNV200 and Kangoo and Master Z.Es respectively, as well as the Ford Transit Custom PHEV, would also have been in Birmingham.

That’s a lot of launches and doesn’t include perennial show non-attendees Mercedes- Benz, which has just launched its e-Vito. It all goes to highlight how electric and hybrid power trains are slowly but surely working their way into the commercial vehicle sector, and in this issue you can read about some of these in our commercial section.

On the car front, pre-lockdown, electric cars were also coming thick and fast. Many brands were in the process of launching PHEV versions of their biggest sellers. Before the

portcullis fell, we spent a week in the Skoda Superb iV, the brand’s first plug-in hybrid; it certainly delivers, both as a car and as a company car tax saver. The DS7 Crossback e-Tense is another plug-in just coming to market and we drive this, too. There is also a road test on the Hyundai Kona EV, while Range Rover has added a PHEV version to its Evoque. In addition you’ll find news on the new Volkswagen Golf 8 and BMW 5 Series, the Lexus UX and Mazda’s first electric car, the MX-30.

Away from CV Show stars, we got behind the wheel of the original small electric van, the Nissan e-NV200, and latest Volkswagen Transporter 6.1. And as we mentioned, there’s all the news on the latest van launches, including the Toyota Proace City, as well as the new electric vans from Citroen, Peugeot, Fiat Professional and Maxus, the new name for LDV.

We also have a couple of socially distanced Q and As with Toyota’s LCV Manager Gareth Matthews, and Maxus boss
Mark Barrett.