Maxus powers ahead with new models and offerings in electric van sector

Since it launched into the UK four years ago, Maxus has made rapid progress in the LCV sector.

The brand, which is part of the SAIC Group, has consistently brought out new and improved models, as well as enhancing its fleet products and solutions, leading to its being named EV Breakthrough of the Year – Van Marque in this year’s Fleet News Awards.

“We were four years old in August and where we have success is purely on the suitability of the product to the customers that need to make the transition to electric from diesel,” says Mike Haran, fleet account manager at Maxus.

“Supermarkets have been very keen to find a home delivery solution, parcel delivery companies have a lot of stop-start driving which electric is ideal for, and fleets need a product which offers sufficient range.

“We’ve been successful in achieving the range that we’ve claimed as opposed to overstating what the vehicles are capable of.”

He says this has allowed Maxus to be a disruptor in the sector, attracting customers who would usually have taken on vehicles from the more established brands.

“What has been really pleasing is that some of the biggest fleets have said they welcome having an alternative to the old mainstream brands that they've always had,” adds Haran.

“I'm talking the likes of Europcar and DPD, which have taken on large numbers of our vans, and we even had Ayvens saying it’s good to have a new entrant which is clearly here to stay, bringing quality products in.”

Haron says this interest has led to deals with a number of major fleets, including DPD, Tesco and Europcar Vans and Trucks.

These deals show the company has come a long way since 2020, when it was still known as LDV and had “a couple of products, a diesel van and an electric version of that, which was an old design back in the 2000s”, says Haran.

“By 2020 we started to see new vehicles coming through, beginning with the Deliver 9, and several models quickly followed.

“The challenge was how we got them out there in front of enough people to build a decent vehicle parc. We had to build a network of sufficient size and capability to not only sell the vans, but provide that maintenance and aftersales care that anyone who drives a van - but particularly fleets – require.

“We’ve managed to go from being a complete unknown to have 50 sales dealers and an additional 19 aftersales outlets, so in total close to 70 aftersales sites.

“We’ve joined forces with some very good companies along the way, some top retailers, and in the meantime bringing out one or two vehicles every year since 2020, whether that be a new chassis cab, a panel van or a pick-up.”

Maxus range

Maxus’s range now includes six commercial vehicles – eDeliver 3, eDeliver 5, eDeliver 7, eDeliver 9, Deliver 9 and the T90EV pickup – and the MIFA 7 and MIFA 9 passenger cars. All are electric except the Deliver 9 diesel.

Last month at the IAA Transportation show in Hanover, Germany, it announced its eTerron 9 all-wheel drive electric pick-up which will go on sale in Q1 next year.

Maxus also offers a conversion service. “We know, for example, a supermarket doesn’t just buy a chassis cab. It also needs to fit a a body with a fridge, freezer, camera systems, weighing systems, telematics etc.,” says Haran.

“All these things have to be incorporated with the vehicle, but we don’t shy away from that; we work with them.

“We’ve got our own technical guys, we’ve got out own field engineer team to support fleets with a view to taking away some of the teething troubles you will get.”

As all bar one of the vehicles Maxus sells is electric, the brand is keen to help fleets make that transition, says Haran.

This includes through using Maxus Intelligence, which uses Geotab telematics to provide real-time information and analysis of vehicles.

“With Maxus Intelligence we can put telematics in their existing vehicles, monitor it for, say, a week or a month and then use the data to identify vans which could be changed for EVs now, an then help with that transition,” says Haran.

“We tend to find that the ones customers think can be switched definitely can, and the ones they think can’t be, probably can, because it’s often more a mindset than anything. It’s no longer range anxiety, but change anxiety.”

Maxus Intelligence also allows a fleet manager access to the live state of charge of a vehicle, so they can identify when a vehicle needs to charge, when it is on-charge and how far it is from the nearest charge point, compare costs of running an EV to an ICE vehicle on the same duty, and monitoring driver behaviour.

Reducing vehicle off-road time

Haran says helping fleet customers reduce vehicle off-road time is also a major focus, and he says 98% of parts are delivered next day if ordered by 2pm.

“We store £9 million of parts in a 50,000 sq ft warehouse in Liverpool, and we’ve got that commitment to deliver parts the next day,” he adds.

“We also have specialist VOR support for the dealer and for some major fleets, so you can see that aftercare piece is very important to us.

“It’s only going to continue to be a major focus because we are a commercial vehicle supplier primarily, and we understand that downtime is to be avoided at all costs.”

Haran says Maxus is also looking at the possibility of offering mobile servicing in the future, reducing the need for vehicles to be taken to a garage.