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Stellantis To Refresh All Its Commercial Vehicles Across Its brands
Stellantis is broadly represented in the van market (commercial vehicles) with four European brands: Citroën, Peugeot, Opel, and Fiat. These four each have their own but of course technically identical (also electrically powered) vans. Stellantis renews them all in one fell swoop. At the bottom of the range, the Citroën Berlingo, Peugeot Partner, Opel Combo, and Fiat Doblò get a facelift and improved electrical hardware. Above that are the mid-sized Citroën Jumpy, Peugeot Expert, Opel Vivaro, and Fiat Scudo and right at the top you have the Citroën Jumper, Peugeot Boxer, Opel Movano, and Fiat Ducato, which are undergoing similar innovations.
New noses
The exterior innovations are easy to spot, especially in compact and medium sized vans. The Citroën Berlingo and its Stellantis brothers all get a new nose. In the case of the electric Berlingo and Doblò, this is a clearly more minimalist front than so far. The Peugeot Partner gets a more striking nose, with extra decorative elements that run up the nose from the headlights. In line with, for example, the facelifted Corsa, the Opel Combo now also gets Opel’s Vizor nose.
The larger Citroën Jumpy, Peugeot Expert, Opel Vivaro, and Fiat Scudo are undergoing a similar transformation. Once again we see a nose with significantly less happening than we are used to on the Citroën and Fiat. The electric Fiat Scudo in particular has a pretty tidy face. With the Opel Vivaro we again see the now familiar fresh Opel nose with the thick black area between the headlights, the Peugeot Expert, like its little brother, gets three ‘stripes’ from the headlights towards the center of the front. A clear reference to the grilles of Peugeot passenger cars, which also optically extend into the headlights. The changes are less significant for the largest buses in the Stellantis van family. The biggest difference lies in what happens one floor below the headlights. All four have slightly different decorations above the actual grille.
Greater driving range
There is also important technical news. The electric powertrains have been examined and this mainly results in improved driving ranges. With the most compact quartet, the maximum driving range increases to 330 km according to the WLTP cycle. In winter, that range should not decrease too much thanks to a heat pump. The range of the medium-sized buses increases to 350 km and the largest buses can travel up to 420 km with a 110 kWh battery. Hydrogen is also back in the picture: the medium-sized vans (Jumpy, Expert, Vivaro, and Scudo) will be available with a fuel cell in mid-2024, allowing a 400 km driving range to be refueled in just a few minutes. Fuel cells will also follow in the largest four, allowing up to 500 km of driving range with full hydrogen tanks. More technological improvements are available for all vans in the form of new optional digital instruments and 10-inch infotainment screens that support Apple CarPlay and Android Automotive.
Distinguishness
The big question is of course how the vans can be distinguished from each other. Well, at least the most compact four get their own unique selling points. For example, the Opel Combo is the only one with standard matrix LED headlights, the Fiat Doblò has a more versatile loading space thanks to a completely flat ‘magic’ rear seat, and the Peugeot Partner has a slightly different dashboard than the rest, with a higher instrument cluster and a small steering wheel. (i-Cockpit), and finally, the Citroën Berlingo has extra comfortable seats.
The new vans are expected on the market in the new year and of course, not only the electric, but also the fuel versions and the passenger variants benefit from the various innovations.
