Stellantis, the parent company of Vauxhall, is celebrating the production of the 1,500,000th Vivaro van, along with its sister models, at its manufacturing plant in Luton.
The Vauxhall Vivaro and its siblings first entered production in 2001 and have since become vital Light Commercial Vehicles in Stellantis’ lineup. To date, over 350,000 Vauxhall Vivaros have been sold in the UK alone.
The milestone 1.5 millionth Vivaro-platform model — a Vauxhall Vivaro Prime Van — is slated for delivery to Virgin Media O2, one of Vauxhall’s major fleet partners.
Vauxhall has a long-standing history in Luton, having been established in 1905. The production of commercial vehicles began in 1932 with the ‘VYC’ and ‘VXC’ panel vans. Since then, Luton has continued to produce a range of popular commercial vehicles for Vauxhall, with models such as the Chevanne, Astravan, Midi and Rascal rolling off Luton’s production line. In 2001, the production of the Vivaro began, which is now in its third generation.
Vivaro vans produced at Luton have gone on to serve several of Vauxhall’s leading fleet partners, including Virgin Media O2, BT, Sky and Royal Mail, while also being distributed to European customers under the Opel badge. The plant also produces the mechanically identical Peugeot Expert, Citroen Dispatch and Jumpy, and Fiat Scudo, and manufactured the previous-generation Vivaro, with sister models wearing Nissan and Renault badges.
“Luton has been home for Vauxhall commercial vehicles for nearly a century,” commented James Taylor, managing director at Vauxhall. “Since 2001, the Vivaro has become one of Britain’s most recognisable vehicles on the road, and has helped businesses across the country and abroad. Vauxhall is incredibly proud to have the vehicle reach the important milestone of 1.5 million models produced, and I’d like to thank everyone who has helped achieve this.”
Mike Brown, head of fleet & EV transition at Virgin Media O2, added: “The Vivaro is the ideal van for our needs, so I’m thrilled that Virgin Media O2 is the recipient of the 1.5 millionth Vivaro produced at Luton. As we transition to a fully electric fleet by 2030, the Vivaro Electric is becoming a key part of our business, aiding our transition to a more sustainable future and helping our employees carry out service and install visits at customers’ homes across the country.”
Manufacturing of the Vivaro Electric and its Stellantis siblings takes place in Hordain, near Lille, France. Production of electric variants of the Vauxhall Combo, Peugeot Partner and Citroen Berlingo compact LCVs is slated to begin at Stellantis’ Ellesmere Port plant this year, but the firm has warned of threats to its UK business. In a submission to a commons committee inquiry, Stellantis cautioned that “If the cost of electric vehicle manufacturing in the UK becomes uncompetitive and unsustainable, operations will close. Manufacturers will not continue to invest and [will] relocate manufacturing operations outside of [the] UK, as seen with previously established UK manufacturers such as Ford and Mini.”
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