Volkswagen Wins Biggest Fleet Order Ever For 5,300 Caddy Vans

MILTON KEYNES, UNITED KINGDOM – April 24, 2009: The durability and competitive whole life costs of the Volkswagen Caddy van, together with the professional support from its Corporate Fleet team, have won Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles its biggest fleet order ever for 5,300 vehicles.

Following a formal and rigorous tender process, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is delighted to announce that British Gas, which already has a fleet of one thousand Caddy vans, has ordered an additional 5,300 identical vehicles as part of its fleet replacement programme, which will be delivered over the next two years, each with bespoke racking and a 70 mph speed limiter.

With each British Gas engineer travelling an average of 12,000 miles per annum, this fleet of Caddy vans will travel over 254 million miles during the four years they’re expected to be on the British Gas fleet, which represents an excellent demonstration of the reliability and durability expected from Volkswagen’s commercial vehicles.

Colin Marriott, General Manager Fleet at British Gas said: ‘We are committed to our vehicle replacement programme to ensure our fleet operates to the highest safety levels, and that we continuously take advantage of the very latest vehicle technologies that reduce our impact on the environment.

‘We are extremely pleased with the one thousand Caddy vans we’ve had since 2007, and our decision to order more Volkswagens is based on our analysis of whole life costs, reliability and professional support available from the manufacturer.’

Chris Blue, National Fleet Manager, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles said: ‘We are extremely proud to have this prestigious order from British Gas. It is a strong example of the right factors to consider when buying a new van – quality and durability, strong residual values with competitive whole life costs.’

British Gas is the largest domestic central heating and gas appliance installation company in the UK and has become the largest supplier of electricity to residential customers in Britain. British Gas is Britain’s largest single employer and trainer of gas engineers and has over 8,000 highly trained, Gas Safe registered engineers visiting millions of homes throughout the country every year.

The Caddy is the most compact model in the Volkswagen van range (of Caddy, Caddy Maxi, Transporter and Crafter models), with a 3.2m³ load volume. It is available from £10,750 or from £185 a month with the current Contract Hire or Finance Lease offer.