UK / Ireland – LDV UK & Ireland of Dublin, Ireland, (a Harris Group¹ subsidiary and distributor of the LDV Maxus brand in the UK and Ireland), is planning to introduce the Yuejin truck range, a brand of the Shanghai-based vehicle manufacturer, SAIC, to the UK market later this year, according to Mark Barrett, LDV general manager UK & Ireland at the CV Show in Birmingham last month. It is likely the Yuejin brand, however, would be replaced with the LDV/Maxus brand name for the European market, Barrett suggested. Although no timeline was given to the first vehicle launch, on-going discussions were for a full electric version to be available from the very start. This would be an all-electric drive light-duty 4.5-ton (4,495kg) truck, derived from the Yuejin truck model in this weight class.

This opportunity for LDV follows on from the reduction in the joint shareholding in the Yuejin truck brand by Italy’s Iveco SpA in favour of SAIC back in December 2016 –see note below. The Yuejin model range has four vehicle types, the S-, H-, X- and C-series with gvw vehicle weights ranging from 2.45 up to 12 tons.