The LDV Maxus is a light commercial van model, originally produced by LDV Limited. It was launched at the end of 2004. The model was jointly developed under the LD100 programme code by LDV and

Daewoo Motor Daewoo Motors ( ) was a South Korean Automotive industry, automotive company established in 1937 as "National Motors". The company changed its name several times until 1982 when it became "Daewoo Motors" following its acquisition by the Daewoo, ...

, prior to Daewoo entering receivership in November 2000, in a five year, £500 million development programme. It was intended to replace LDV's

Convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

model, and Daewoo Motor Polska's Lublin II model. A narrower derivative sharing the bodysides of the SWB low-roof versions was partially developed under the BD100 codename to replace LDV's Pilot model, but this never reached production. Following

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

' acquisition of Daewoo, LDV secured the exclusive rights to the vehicle, purchased the tooling, and moved it from Daewoo's plant in Lublin, Poland to the LDV site in Washwood Heath,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. A version of the Maxus is manufactured by

GAZ Gaz may refer to: Geography *Gaz, Kyrgyzstan Iran * Gaz, Darmian, village in South Khorasan province * Gaz, Golestan, a village in Bandar-e Gaz County * Gaz, Hormozgan, a village in Minab County * Gaz, Kerman, a village * Gaz, North Khorasan, a ...

. In March 2011, the Chinese company

SAIC Motor SAIC Motor Corp., Ltd. (formerly Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) is a Chinese State-owned enterprises of China, state-owned automobile manufacturer headquartered in Anting, Shanghai. Founded in 1955, it is currently the largest of the ...

launched a new commercial vehicle marque called

Maxus SAIC Maxus Automotive Co., Ltd. trading as Maxus (LDV in Australia and New Zealand) and sometimes known by the pinyin transcription of its Chinese name, Datong (大通) is a Chinese vehicle brand. Currently, it is a commercial and passenger ve ...

, following its acquisition of the intellectual property of LDV in 2010. The LDV Maxus model was relaunched by SAIC as the V80 in June 2011.

History

Since its launch, the Maxus received good reviews and sold well across the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The van was used on the fleet basis by companies, such as National Grid,

Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...

, and various services of the

British Police Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Most law enforcement duties are carried out by police, police constables of ...

. Not long after its launch, the LDV Maxus was awarded the ''Professional Van and Light Truck Magazine'' "Van of the Year 2005", and has since won several further awards including "Van of the Year", "Minibus of the Year" and "Combi of the Year". LDV was acquired in July 2006 by the Russian automotive giant

, that had plans to start production of the Maxus in one of its Russian factories by 2010, but the LDV factory went into administration in June 2009, due to lack of funds from Russian owner GAZ. About 800 workers were laid off during this period, leaving the whole van building operation in question. It had been hoped that the Malaysian company Weststar LDV, which distributed the Maxus under licence in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, would acquire LDV, but the deal fell through the week before LDV entered administration. In 2008, LDV manufactured 10,000 vans, generating sales of about £150 million, but lost £54 million in 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, before the failure of the company. In August 2010, China's SAIC, which bought most of the LDV assets, planned to launch the Chinese version of Maxus in 2011, and in April 2011 announced the Maxus would be called the Datong (meaning big wisdom and smooth in Chinese) under its new Maxus brand. The Maxus was available in two

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

s, three roof heights, and a choice of 2.8t, 3.2t, and 3.5t GVW. The vehicle was also available in these roles: * Multi-purpose role, mixing seats and space for the transport of goods * Minibus (passenger van) version providing 10, 12, 15 or 17 seats *

Chassis cab A chassis cab, also called a cab chassis or half truck, is a type of vehicle construction, often found in medium duty truck commercial vehicles. Instead of supplying the customer with a factory pre-assembled flatbed, cargo container, or other ...

version with dropside, tipper,

luton Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census. Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...

and

box van A box truck—also known as a box van, cube van, bob truck or cube truck—is a chassis cab truck with an enclosed cuboid-shaped cargo area. On most box trucks, the cabin is separate to the cargo area; however some box trucks have a door betwee ...

Maxus V80

Available from the summer of 2011, the Chinese built V80, marketed under the new

marque, is available in three versions: standard,

logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

, and deluxe. The Minibus is available from 7 to 16 seaters, in two trim levels. The choice of two wheelbases remains, with two different versions of the 2.5-litre diesel engine producing 88 or 100 kW. Colour choices include crystal violet, olive-brown and aurora silver for deluxe variants, blanc white, aurora silver and lava grey for standard and the logistics variant only with blanc white. The Maxus V80 is exported to English speaking countries under the LDV brand. Australia and New Zealand were the first to receive exports in 2012. In 2013, the Maxus V80 was exported to Thailand, in May 2014, to Colombia, in May 2015, to Ireland, and in 2016, to the United Kingdom. File:2014 LDV V80 SWB 5-door van (20785796599).jpg, Maxus V80 Short WheelBase (SWB) File:2018 SAIC Motor LDV V80 L2H3 TD 2.5 Front.jpg, Maxus V80 Long WheelBase (LWB) File:2018 SAIC Motor LDV V80 L2H3 TD 2.5 Rear.jpg, Maxus V80 LWB File:Maxus V80 facelift China 2019-03-13.jpg, Maxus V80 SWB facelift In November 2023, the Maxus V80 received a massive update for the 2024 model year in the Chinese domestic market. The V80 facelift was named the Xintu V80 (新途 V80), listing the post facelift model under a series of Xintu vans. File:Maxus Xintu V80 001.jpg, Maxus Xintu V80 (SWB)

Maxus FCV80

A plug-in hybrid

fuel cell A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen fuel, hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most bat ...

version of the V80 the FCV80 a light passenger was launched in November 2017 at the Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition. The FCV80 has an electric motor that delivers and of torque. It has a 14.3 kWh

Lithium-Ion A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible Intercalation (chemistry), intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically Electrical conductor, conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are c ...

battery that can be charged (plug-in AC) in four hours. It has a maximum speed of , two 100 L hydrogen tanks that can be refueled in 3 minutes, a driving range of and a range of at . The FCV80 can seat 10 to 14 passengers. In 2020, the FCV80 had recorded sales of 297 vehicles.

Maxus EV80 and EV80 Pro

The Maxus EV80 and EV80 Plus are electric versions of the V80, and was introduced to the Chinese market in August 2020 alongside the EV90 electric van. The EV80 is powered by a permanent-magnet synchronous motor developing 120kW and 280N·m. The batteries are 51.5, 53, and 71kWh Lithium iron phosphate batteries supporting a pure electric range from 202 to 250km. Launched in 2023, the Maxus EV80 Pro is a more premium and updated variant of the regular EV80. Following the 2024 model year of the ICE powered V80, the vehicle is massively restyled with a completely different front end and new tail lamps. The EV80 is powered by the same permanent-magnet synchronous motor developing 120kW and 280N·m from the EV80 Plus. The EV80 Pro is equipped with 77kWh Lithium iron phosphate batteries, and only takes 43 minutes to charge to 80%. The official range unveiled by Maxus is 320km. File:Maxus EV80 Pro 003.jpg, Maxus EV80 Pro File:Maxus EV80 Pro 004.jpg, Maxus EV80 Pro (rear)

MG V80

The V80 is marketed as the MG V80 in Thailand since March 2019. The Thai-spec V80 is powered by a 2.5-litre diesel-turbo sourced from VM Motori. Outputs are rated at 136 hp and 330Nm. There are two transmission types to choose from: six-speed manual; or single-clutch automatic (automated manual).

References