Volkswagen Vans Deliver New Look For British Gas

MILTON KEYNES, UNITED KINGDOM – Aug 27, 2010: Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has delivered the first of 2,000 vans to British Gas this year sporting a vibrant, new cyan blue livery. The new design reflects the ongoing modernisation of British Gas’ brand and business.

The vans include a mixture of Volkswagen Caddy and Caddy Maxi vans, plus a Crafter dropside, and the trial of a Transporter Shuttle minibus. They form part of the British Gas vehicle exchange programme to update its fleet of over 10,000 vehicles.

These new Volkswagen vans will be driven by British Gas engineers and energy experts across the UK who make on average 10,000 service checks a day, looking after 12 million British homes and one million businesses. British Gas also helps customers with energy savings advice as well as a large range of energy efficiency products and services, such as insulation, smart meters or solar panels.

For improved safety the vans are fitted with speed limiters and racking to help control any load if the vehicle has to brake heavily. In addition, the new livery includes high visibility chevrons on the rear doors.

Externally, the vans still feature the iconic British Gas flame, but the new livery is also designed to have more space to communicate information and features to keep customers, and potential customers, informed.

Colin Marriott, General Manager for British Gas fleet said: ‘Our on-going strategic relationship with Volkswagen is very important to our business. It enables us to provide our engineers with safe and reliable vehicles., which meet highest quality standards and offer excellent value in terms of whole life costs. ‘

Simon Elliott, Director, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles said: ‘We are pleased to see that the quality, durability and cost effective running costs of Volkswagen vans have passed the formidable British Gas acceptance criteria, and above all, proud to have our vans delivering such great service to British Gas and its customers.’

The Caddy and Caddy Maxi vans are the most compact and economical models available from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles with load volumes from 3.2 m³ and up to 54.3 mpg on the extra urban cycle.