FIAT wins Best City Van, at recent awards ceremony.

• FIAT Fiorino Cargo 1.3 MultiJet 75 Tecnico Start&Stop named Best City Van in the 2015 Business Vans Van of the Year Awards
• Judges highlighted its manoeuvrability, practicality, high specification, payload and low running costs
• Award presentation made at a special Business Vans award event in London today, January 22, 2015

FIAT Professional is celebrating another awards success following the announcement that its versatile FIAT Fiorino Cargo has been named Best City Van in the Business Van of the Year Awards 2015. Business Vans is an online publication dedicated to the SME sector, providing expert advice for small businesses and owner-operators to choose the right van for their trade or company.

The independent judges, all experts in the commercial vehicle world with senior positions in commercial, leasing and editorial firms, are led by chairman Keith Hawes, MD of Magma Automotive Service, who also chaired the judges last year.

The judges were impressed by the FIAT Fiorino Cargo’s compact dimensions, practicality, high specification, payload and load volume (660kg and a load volume of up to 2.8 cubic metres) as well as its low running costs. Thanks to its advanced MultiJet II turbo-diesel engines the FIAT Fiorino returns up to 65.7 MPG on the combined cycle while also offering its users low maintenance and repair costs.

The Business Van of the Year Best City Van award was specifically bestowed upon the FIAT Fiorino Cargo 1.3 MultiJet II 75hp Tecnico Start&Stop which represents great value for money at £8,995* and features air conditioning; Blue&Me™ connectivity with a TomTom satnav dock; front fog lights and rear parking sensors all as standard.

The recently-launched Sportivo version of the FIAT Fiorino builds on the high specification of the Tecnico model by adding alloy wheels, Sportivo side-stripes and an engine power upgrade to 95hp with no fuel economy or emissions penalties.

Commenting on the success of the FIAT Fiorino, Business Vans editorial director Ralph Morton said: “FIAT’s baby Fiorino has built a reputation as being a perky little van that’s fun to drive. Despite its compact dimensions, it’ll swallow a Euro pallet making the economical Fiorino perfect for city deliveries and the extra spec of the Tecnico version makes it perfect as a business van.”

Sebastiano Fedrigo, director FIAT Professional UK, commented: "We are delighted and proud to receive this prestigious award from the Business Vans team of expert judges. The FIAT Fiorino has firmly established itself as a class-leading product in its respective segment and is widely-regarded throughout the industry. This latest award provides further endorsement of the quality and strength of the award-winning FIAT Professional range."

FIAT Commercial enjoys another record year of sales in the United kingdom.

• Almost 15,000 FIAT Professional vehicles registered in the UK in 2014, a record total for the brand
• New FIAT Ducato was key to this success, doubling sales in this key segment compared to 2013 despite only hitting showrooms in May
• Prospects look positive for 2015 with a full year of new FIAT Ducato sales and the launch of new FIAT Doblò Cargo scheduled for March

FIAT Professional has posted record sales for 2014 with 14,927 units registered, an increase of eight percent compared to 2013 which was itself another outstanding year for the brand! The results are a culmination of five years of sustained growth, which has seen FIAT Professional grow by 83 percent since 2010 in terms of sales.

Key to the brand’s 2014 success is the new FIAT Ducato, which has managed to almost double volumes compared to 2013 and increase its market share in the UK’s largest LCV segment by an impressive 2.7 percent, despite only being launched in the UK in May.  

FIAT Professional has also increased the retail proportion of its sales by 45 percent, appealing to more user-choosers and owner-operators than ever before, thanks to FIAT Professional’s combination of reliability, versatility, low running costs, advanced technologies and outstanding customer care.

Sebastiano Fedrigo, Director, FIAT Professional UK, commented, “We’re very proud of increasing our volumes to record levels in 2014 and in particular our engagement with retail customers, more and more of whom are relying on their FIAT Professional vehicles to get the job done. 

The new Ducato coming on stream mid-year gave us a significant boost and we have similar expectations of the new FIAT Doblò Cargo when it goes on sale in March. Combine those two vehicles with the rest of the outstanding FIAT Professional range and we are very confident in having another successful year in 2015.”