Australian automotive distributor WMC, has made the decision to change the name of its new range of European-designed, Chinese-manufactured vans to LDV for the Australasian market.
In consultation with SAIC, the change has been made by WMC to avoid a clash of trademarks with an Australian component company which uses the name Maxus for a range of truck and trailer components and consumables.
Acting on behalf of SAIC, WMC has been in negotiations for several months over the use of the Maxus name but has been unable to reach a commercial agreement with the Australian company. Consequently, the decision was taken to use a different name.
According to WMC Group CEO Jason Pecotic, while it is disappointing that the range will not be marketed under its global name, he is confident that the LDV brand will be well received by Australians and New Zealanders, which is the name originally used for the range when it was manufactured and marketed in Europe, prior to SAIC acquiring the brand.
“The vans are manufactured by SAIC in China and sold around the world under the Maxus name. Whilst we didn’t believe there would have been any confusion, we are excited to be using the LDV name,” says Jason Pecotic.
“LDV reflects the European heritage and design of the vans and we believe buyers will embrace the brand because of the value, engineering quality and equipment levels they will offer,” he says.
The new generation of LDV V80 vans are based on a front-drive platform developed in Britain as the LDV, using the latest generation common rail turbo diesel power plants by Italian maker VM Motori.
SAIC purchased the British commercial vehicle operation and intellectual rights to the van from the company in 2009 and has invested in further R&D and engineering to ensure it meets the latest European standards.
WMC is planning to launch a seven-model range of LDV V80 vans from the fourth quarter of 2012 in Australia with three cargo versions and four passenger models.
The line-up will include a short wheelbase and long wheel base cargo van both with standard roof height as well as a high roof version of the long wheelbase model. The range will feature load capacity of between nine and 14 cubic metres and a payload of up to 1.8 tonnes.
The four passenger van variants will include the 11-passenger short wheelbase with standard roof as well as a 15-passenger long wheelbase variant in either standard roof or high roof configuration and an 11-passenger long wheel base luxury model.
The LDV vehicles will also come with a high level of standard features which are not available or are options on other brands, which supports the high level of build quality, design and positioning of the product.
These standard features include rear barn doors, tyre pressure monitoring, 16" alloy wheels, dual sliding doors and door integrated electric entry steps.
LDV vans meet European crash and safety standards and the VM Motori diesel will attain the latest emission standards. The LDV van suspension and handling has also been tuned by automotive design and engineering consultants in Europe.
The 2.5 litre VM diesel in the Maxus range boasts 100kW of power and 330Nm of torque.
Further details of the LDV range and specification will be revealed close to the launch date.