On the one hand the van world giveth, on the other it taketh away – within minutes of Ford launching the all-new Fiesta Van at the CV Show 2018 we learned that Vauxhall has discontinued the Corsavan.
In fact, the Corsavan is so dead, if you were thinking about ordering one you’re already too late – Vauxhall closed the order books in mid-April 2018, ahead of production ceasing this summer.
So you’re saying that although there’s a new Fiesta Van there’s still only going to be one car-based van on sale in the UK?
That’s exactly right. But it could be worse for car-derived van buyers.
When Ford discontinued the previous Fiesta Van in 2017, it originally said that it would never build another – so we could have ended up with this entire segment of the van market disappearing altogether.
Fortunately, Ford has changed its mind and brought back the Fiesta Van in a new generation (above) – due in part, it says, to changes in way people view diesel vans in cities; the new Fiesta Van will once again be offered with efficient turbo petrol engines as well as turbodiesels.
Even so, there’s still going to be a gap when there are no car-derived vans on sale, as the Corsavan ends production in summer 2018 and the new Fiesta Van isn’t due until autumn 2018.
Why has Vauxhall discontinued the Corsavan?
It’s an engine issue, we’re told.
The current diesel – which makes up the vast majority of Corsavan sales – doesn’t meet the latest Euro 6.2 emissions regulations, and apparently supply of a replacement that does is too scarce to waste on the van variant.
So rather than plod on attempting to sell petrol-only Corsvans (a tricky proposition no matter what Ford says), Vauxhall has decided to kill it off instead.
It seems likely this situation is also a further consequence of PSA Peugeot-Citroen’s takeover of the Vauxhall, which happened last year.
What should I buy instead of a Vauxhall Corsavan?
The new Fiesta Van is the obvious choice, but there are a number of ‘proper’ small vans you might also consider.
If Vauxhall’s current Combo is too big – or unavailable, as it too has been closed off from new orders, but this time because it’s about to be replaced by an all-new model later in 2018 – there are more compact vans available from other makers.
One of these is Ford, of course, which builds the Transit Courier. The other is Fiat, which is continuing with the Fiorino (despite Peugeot and Citroen discontinuing their Bipper and Nemo versions in 2017).
Both these rivals are now available in sporty trim levels, too, with Ford launching the Transit Courier Sport in 2017 and Fiat announcing a new Fiorano Sportivo at the 2018 CV Show.
As proper vans these offer much more load space than the outgoing Corsavan (and the incoming Fiesta Van), but obviously won’t blend in with suburbia quite so well when parked on your drive.
Full reviews of every model mentioned are available on Parkers Vans if you want to find out more.
