The Enfield-based company will locate the new vehicles throughout its UK mainland depot network, where they will be used to deliver automotive refinishing products.
The latest Dispatch vans are a combination of new vehicles to meet customer demand and replacement vehicles for life-expired vans that were acquired in a major expansion three years ago.
Some of the new vehicles were delivered to the recently refurbished Coventry branch, which was re-opened to relieve pressure on existing branches in this region. Supplied by Citroën Coventry, the latest Dispatch vans have been acquired on ALD Automotive’s three-year/135,000 mile contract hire agreements. The majority of the Morelli Group fleet are DS and Citroën models, totalling 48 Citroën vans and 27 cars.
The 1200kg payload Dispatch L2H1 Enterprise models are powered by an HDi 125 engine, offering fuel economy of 44.1mpg and CO2 emissions as low as 168g/km.
Standard specification includes air conditioning, rear parking sensors, a Connecting Box (including Bluetooth hands free and a USB socket), electrically folding heated door mirrors and a full steel bulkhead. In addition, the Dispatch also comes with Teletrac intelligent satellite navigation and Trackstar stolen vehicle tracking.
Commenting on the new vehicles, Robert Cohen, Morelli group financial director, remarked: ‘We like the way Citroën offers its vans with defined trim levels, rather than a large number of options, which makes ordering vehicles easier. Citroën's LCVs are ideal for our intensive, high-mileage operation, providing excellent driver comfort and safety, along with reliability and low cost of operation.’
The Morelli Group's new Dispatch vans will be invaluable in distributing paint and other automotive refinishing materials to its growing number of Bodyshop customers. Founded in 1957, the Morelli Group has become the UK's leading independent supplier of well-known branded refinish products, such as Glasurit, R-M, Cromax, Standox, Spies Hecker, PPG and DeBeer.