IBC Vehicles Limited is an English automotive manufacturing company based in

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable a ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

and since 2021 a wholly owned subsidiary of the multinational corporation

Stellantis Stellantis N.V. is a multinational automotive manufacturing corporation formed in 2021 on the basis of a 50–50 cross-border merger between the Italian-American conglomerate Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the French PSA Group. The compa ...

. Its principal operation is an assembly plant located in Luton, Vauxhall Luton, which currently produces light commercial vehicles sold under the

Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...

, Opel,

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and then ...

and

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

marques.

History

IBC Vehicles has its roots in

Bedford Vehicles Bedford Vehicles, usually shortened to just Bedford, was a brand of vehicle manufactured by Vauxhall Motors, then a subsidiary of multinational corporation General Motors. Established in April 1931, Bedford Vehicles was set up to build com ...

, the van manufacturing subsidiary of Vauxhall. In 1986 the Bedford Vehicles van factory in Luton was reorganised as a joint venture with Isuzu. The resulting company was named IBC Vehicles (Isuzu Bedford Company Limited). Its first product was the Bedford Midi - a

badge engineered In the automotive industry, rebadging is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. To allow for product differentiation without designing or engineering a new model or brand (at high cost or risk), a man ...

clone of the Isuzu Fargo midsize

panel van A panel van, also known as a blind van, car-derived van (United Kingdom) or sedan delivery (United States), is a small cargo vehicle with a passenger car chassis, typically with a single front bench seat and no side windows behind the B-pillar. ...

, intended to replace the ageing Bedford CF. The

Suzuki is a Japan, Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, All-terrain vehicle, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs ...

-based Bedford Rascal microvan followed in 1987. In 1992 the factory produced a European version of the Isuzu MU aka Amigo 4WD called the Opel/Vauxhall Frontera Sport and the Isuzu MU Wizard aka Rodeo 4WD called the Opel/Vauxhall Frontera and a range of

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...

-designed vans sold under the Vauxhall and Opel brand names. The Bedford name was dropped completely as were all of its preceding range apart from the

Midi MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, an ...

. The Frontera A was produced from 1992 to 1998 and the Frontera B 1998 - 2004. In 1998 GM bought Isuzu out of the IBC partnership and renamed the plant to GMM Luton (GM Manufacturing Luton). General Motors sold Opel, including Vauxhall and the Luton plant, to Groupe PSA in 2017. Groupe PSA merged with

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCA) was an Italian-American multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles, commercial vehicles, auto parts and production systems. The Italian holding company Exor was the largest s ...

to form Stellantis in January 2021.

Products

GMM Luton produced the Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro A,

Renault Trafic The Renault Trafic (pronounced as "traffic") is a light commercial van produced by the French automaker Renault since 1980. It is also marketed as the Fiat Talento, the Nissan NV300, the Nissan Primastar, the Mitsubishi Express and, until the ...

and Nissan Primastar from 2001 to 2014. The Hi-top roof versions were built in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

, Spain by Renault at the former Nissan Plant because the Luton IBC building was not high enough to accommodate the Hi-top vehicles. By 2011, the plant had produced 1.25 million vehicles since the 2001 launch, with production now down to 68,000 vehicles a year, with a capacity for 100,000. Opel/Vauxhall announced in 2011 that the 2013 Vivaro would continue production at Luton and the high roof versions and the Renault Trafic would be manufactured at Sandouville, France. In early 2020, in addition to the

Vauxhall Vivaro Opel Vivaro, a light commercial vehicle, which is also sold in the United Kingdom as the Vauxhall Vivaro, may refer to: * The Opel Vivaro A, based on the second-generation Renault Trafic, and was produced between 2001 and 2014 * The Opel Vivaro B, ...

, the plant started building Citroën Dispatch and Peugeot Expert vans. In September 2022, the factory began to produce the Fiat Scudo. 2019 Vauxhall Vivaro 2700 Edition 1.5 Front.jpg, Vauxhall Vivaro 2016 Citroen Dispatch 1000 BlueHDi X S 1.6 Front.jpg, Citroën Dispatch

References

External links

Luton Plant. Facts and Figures
{{Automotive industry in the United Kingdom Companies of England Manufacturing companies established in 1986 Companies based in Luton Motor vehicle assembly plants in the United Kingdom Opel factories Vauxhall Motors