Van orders to be met • Leyland-Daf is continuing production
Page 18
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
of its 200 and 400 Series vans in Birmingham under receivership.
The full range of vehicles is being built, albeit in reduced numbers, to satisfy orders from the likes of the Royal Mail and to cater for the municipal demand— including an order for 450 vans from Birmingham City Council— that traditionally builds up at the end of the financial year.
Dealers are also receiving stocks, and can offer vehicles with full warranty support.
The van operation has no part in Dutch schemes for the New Daf company, but a separate management buyout plan has been proposed.
The Excel van project started by Leyland-Daf and Renault is still going ahead at Common Lane, now run solely by the French manufacturer. Industrial property rights on the 2.5-4.2tonne van have passed to Renault, whose development team in the UK includes 50 of their own staff and 190 Leyland engineers working on a temporary sub-contract basis. The management buyout is unlikely to raise enough money to allow resumed involvement in the project, so the long-term future of these staff—and of the L-D model range— remains uncertain.
In the event of a buy-out Leyland-Daf's only option may be to launch models based on a comprehensive revision of its existing range. Similar plans are thought to have been rejected before Daf's collapse, so the management's business plan will have to con vince the receivers of the company's viability, in the medium-term at least.
Among Renault's potential partners for Excel must be Volkswagen, looking to replace the ageing LT range which still sells about 35,000 units annually: almost twice Leyland-Daf's total van production last year. But with substantial overcapacity at VW's German plants there would be little chance of sustaining a UK manufacturing base.