A van-tastic year for Vauxhall

It’s a commercial success for Vauxhall! In the company’s best ever sales year, 52,943 commercial vehicles found new homes in the UK in 2007.

What’s more, over 30,000 of the vans sold were built in Britain - the best-selling model was the Vivaro, constructed at GM Manufacturing’s plant in Luton, Beds, which notched up 18,231 sales, while the Ellesmere Port-built Astravan found 11,859 new owners.

The all-New Corsavan and popular Combo were also a roaring success, with demand in excess of supply throughout the year.

Overall, Vauxhall’s market share was up 1.1 per cent at 15.7 per cent, while with 13,323 vans sold to non-fleet customers, Vauxhall also saw its best-ever performance in the retail van market, with a share of 12.2 per cent.

The strong sales further emphasise the UK’s position as GM’s strongest LCV market in Europe, while GM also remains the UK’s biggest commercial vehicle manufacturer. In 2007, the 500,000th Vivaro-type van rolled off the Luton production line, while GM now builds in excess of 100,000 LCVs a year in the UK.

Further successes included the introduction of new Sportive and Sportive SE versions of Corsavan and Astravan, the introduction of B30-Biodiesel compatible LCV models and a new major account with broadcaster BSkyB to take 1,700 Vivaros over a three-year period.

Vauxhall vans also loaded up with silverware in 2007, with six major awards, including two for New Corsavan, plus the coveted Green Fleet manufacturer of the year accolade.