C25: MORE OF THE SAME?
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• It would take a special kind of inanity for a company to froth about its "all-new vehicle", when almost exactly the same vehicle has been widely available in the UK from at least two other manufacturers for over four years.
Fortunately Cirtroen's press and PR manager Paul Bucket has sagacity and style enough not to rant bootlessly at light van buyers about the C25 range.
So, "it isn't a world shattering event," he says, "but the C25's market is underexploited, and we are competitive. We will have a low key approach to selling the van at first, as our fleet sales department has found that C15 (Visa van) owners have been contacting us about the C25."
The C25 is of course the ubiquitous Italian SEVEL-built van, with Citroen badges on its upside-down grille. A glance at the sales chart reveals that Peugeot Talbot is the biggest seller of SEVEL-built vans; maybe because its Express range includes the lowest priced SEVEL vans in the UK. Similar, and slightly more expensive, are the SEVEL vans from Fiat and, latterly, Citroen.
Market shares in the 1.8-3.5-tonne class have changed this year, as Ford has reasserted its massive 41% share with the new Transit. Many manufacturers have found that growth rates have not been as high as they expected; or that their sales have even fallen slightly.
Although the SEVEL van's market share in the 1.8-3.5-tonne market is not great, it has risen by a respectable 500 vehicles (0.5%) compared with the same period last year.
Peugeot Talbot and Fiat have aimed for major UK fleet sales over the past few years. With its BX diesel passenger car fleet sales and a growing demand for the C15 Visa van, Citroen also hopes for fleet success with the C25.
The problem with fleet sales for all three importers is twofold. First is the small overall market share held by the SEVEL-built van. This may put off the potential fleet buyer, fearing a paucity of dealers, expensive parts, and the lack of a proven track record. The second is that right-hand drive supplies from the factory at Val-di-Sangro in Italy have been notoriously fickle of late.
While Fiat has been able to get the 3.5-tonne turbocharged diesel Ducat° in right-hand-drive form without much of a problem, Peugeot Talbot has not had the same success with its efforts to import its equivalent, the Express.
Citroen acknowledges that it has little experience in the 1.8-3.5-tonne market sector. It has not suffered any supply problems from the SEVEL factory, but its plans for fleet sales and importing chassis cabs and 3.5-tonne gross weight models may take a back seat while it masters supplying, selling, and servicing panel vans at the lighter end of the market.
• BODYWORK
The C25 range comprises four vehicles: three low-roof 6.5m3 load volume models — the C25E 1000 SWB petrol, the C25 1400 SWB petrol and diesel models, and the high-roof 10.08m3 load volume C25D LWB model.
We have tested the C25E 1400 model with the Peugeot-derived petrol engine. The body comes with two glazed 180° opening rear doors and a sliding side door as standard.
The view through the rear doors is excellent, although the windows soon became dirty and without wipers they stayed that way for the rest of the journey.
The payload is a respectable 1,360kg, and loading that weight is made easier by those 180° doors and the low load bed height (572mm unladen). The sliding side doors gave us some headaches as the frame for the runners protrudes into the passenger's head space. So while the van's acceleration could hardly be described as neck snapping, a dab on the throttle at the right (or wrong) moment can lead to abrupt passenger head/side door runner contact, with ensuing expletives.
The operation of the side door is also a source of consternation in that closing it, with its cheap-looking and complicated latch, demands the strength of a gorilla and the cunning of a weasel.
• DRIVELINE
The iron block, pushrod OHV, alloy head, cross-flow two litre Peugeot petrol engine drives through a five-speed allsynchromesh gearbox that comes from the same combine as the rest of the gearboxes on SEVEL-built vans. Only the gear ratios differ between models and marques.
From the gearbox the power is transmitted through a hypoid differential to the front wheels. With a front-mounted engine there should be plenty of weight over the front wheels to ensure good traction, but the weight transfer under acceleration means that traction is easily lost, as our photographer found to his cost when he parked the van on the grass verge to get some pictures.
The gearbox on our test vehicle has well spaced ratios, with an overdrive fifth gear that allows relaxed high speed cruising, and some power in reserve for acceleration. The gear change, however, leaves a lot to be desired, being sloppy The SEVEL-built van is now almost seven years old and is just beginning to show its age. We understand that a replacement may be forthcoming by 1989. and vague, especially when coupled with the very weak clutch that seems to dog the SEVEL-built range.
• PERFORMANCE
Performance from the 58kW (78hp) engine is good, with very acceptable accel-. eration times, and an easily attainable 112km/h (70mph) motorway cruising speed. The unit is quiet, and revs freely through all the well spaced gears.
At 14.03k/100km (20.14mpg) economy is not brilliant, but then the Talbot Express petrol version pulling 100kg less could achieve only 13.291it/100km (21.26mpg) (CM 1 January 1983), while the petrol Transit at 2,630kg gross weight achieved 11.06lit/100km (25.54mpg). They may offer different power characteristics and torque curves, but petrol engines pulling over 2.5 tonnes are not very economical because the inherent characteristics of the spark ignition engine mean that high power equals high revs which equals poor fuel economy.
• HANDLING
A loose rear damper put the mockers on any objective test of the van's handling as well as making the cab a very noisy place in which to spend an afternoon. One member of our staff complained that the rattling damper drowned out the radio and, more seriously, commented that the rear of the van wallowed about on bends and roundabouts, but this may be due to absence of effective damping.
The steering is responsive when unladen, although as the load approaches the gross weight limit the steering becomes correspondingly heavier.
On A roads the van is nimble round corners and the responsive engine and good driving position means that rapid progress can be made: the MacPherson strut-type front, and leaf sprung dead axle rear suspension works quite well.
This may be because the system tends to discourage over-exuberant driving by allowing the front wheels to hop at the initial point of understeer, rather than leaving the driver to get into trouble after that point.
• INTERIOR
Like the other SEVEL-built vans, the sit-up-and-beg driving position is similar to the old Ford Transit or the current Freight Rover Sherpa and offers good views of the road ahead.
It also makes for easy access and egress from the driver's seat, and when combined with a sliding door is the favoured configuration for general delivery and Post Office drivers. It is not, however, the most comfortable seating position for long-distance driving, and backache sets in before many motorway kilometres have been covered.
The fascia has the usual diminutive SEVEL glove box and full complement of senseless blanking plugs.
It is the finish of the cab that catches the eye, with its poorly matched moulded plastics and cock-eyed layout, in marked contrast to the high standard of the rest of the van.
• SUMMARY
Citroen is right to keep a low profile with the introduction of the C25 range. It has not drawn unecessary attention to itself, and if what we hear is true, then the company could have a complete commercial vehicle range up to 3.5 tonnes on sale in the UK by 1988.
Fleet sales success will probably elude the Citroen vans as it has the Ducato and the Express_ This is a pity because the van is strong and well built, apart from the dashboard and the weak clutch. Front-wheel drive gives it a good load volume and a low load bed.
The sit-up-and-beg driving position makes crowded urban delivery easy, and the van is available in a wide variety of body styles, and gross weights.
It may be that although the three manufacturers between them have a huge number of dealers for what is basically the same van all over the country, the lack of a widespread dedicated Citroen dealer network (there are only 80 in the UK) has deterred potential fleet buyers.
Either way, the van should prove to be a hit with owner-drivers and two or three van fleets in the UK, provided Citroen keeps its prices competitive with the Fiat and Peugeot Talbot SEVELs.
El by Andrew English