Master achieves record output in 2015

According to Renault sources, the company's Sandouville plant in France built 93,000 New Trafic and vehicles for Renault and its partner GM in 2015.

Vauxhall overturns bleak prospects

Five years ago, the future looked bleak for Vauxhall's light commercial vehicle plant in Luton.

Now the future is guaranteed for 10 years when the next generation model goes into production there at the end of the three-week August shut-down.

First Trafic vans from Sandouville

For the first time in its history, since it was opened in 1964, Renault’s Sandouville plant is about to start building light commercial vehicles (LCVs).

The plant will produce New Trafic (to be launched this summer) and the high-roof version of the Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro, previously built in Spain (Nissan plant in Barcelona) and the UK (General Motors plant in Luton).

€190 million for new Vito production

Daimler has invested €190 million to upgrade its van plant in Vitoria, Spain to produce the next generation Vito.

Following the summer shutdown, production will begin of the next generation Mercedes-Benz Vito at the facility, which has also just seen another model changeover for the new Mercedes-Benz V-Class factory. The new MPV goes on sale in June.

World premiere of all-new Trafic

Having claimed to have sold 1.6 million Trafic vans and derivatives since 1980, including ‘the first-generation developed solely by Renault’, the French company will reveal its third-generation design at the forthcoming commercial vehicle exhibition in Birmingham, UK on 29 April.

Observers will be able to make comparisons in detail between Renault’s Trafic and the Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro made only in Luton, Bedfordshire, UK. The Trafic is built in Sandouville, France.

Vauxhall built only 44,000 vans in 2013

The Vauxhall Van Plant in Luton, UK built over 44,000 vans last year, making it Britain’s number one van maker for the 12^th year running, according to figures released today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

The Bedfordshire-based Vauxhall celebrated 110 years of building and selling vehicles in 2013 and achieved 12 years of manufacturing dominance.

Vauxhall Van Plant prepares for change

The Vauxhall Van Plant at Luton, Bedfordshire, is undergoing exciting changes in preparation for the launch of the new X82 van in second quarter 2014.

Introducing a new vehicle onto the manufacturing floor is never easy; the more so if it is a van. Unlike cars, new van models are rolled out only once every 12 years or so; the team that launched the last one is unlikely to be that which launches the next.

And so it is at the Vauxhall Van Plant, Luton where engineers are making ready for X82, scheduled for 2^nd quarter 2014. According to plant director Mike Wright, it is important for the project team to be in place well ahead of launch. The X82 replaces the current X83 design.

‘We have to make sure the team we have is capable of building the vehicle. Very soon, we will be off to France with a hand-picked team of our most experienced people,’ he said. ‘They will see the vehicle for the first time. In November they will see prototypes when they go to Sandouville, near Le Havre. We expect our first build vehicles here in June 2013. We have seen computer-generated images of the new vehicle. It looks fantastic.’