LDV Limited

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For other uses see LDV

LDV Limited

Type	Subsidiary
Founded	1993 as Leyland DAF Vans from Leyland DAF in receivership
Headquarters	Washwood Heath, Birmingham, West Midlands
Key people	Martin Leach
Industry	Automotive
Products	Automobiles
Employees	2,000
Parent	GAZ
Website	www.ldv.com

LDV Limited, formerly Leyland DAF Vans, is a British van manufacturer, based in the Ward End area of Birmingham, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Russian GAZ group.

1 The vehicles
- 1.1 Current range
- 1.2 Legacy vehicles
2 History
3 Sponsorship
4 Models
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] The vehicles

LDV produce a range of panel vans, pick-ups and minibuses, all available with various modifications and specifications. LDV's main customers are large British corporations, such as the Royal Mail, Transco and many other utility companies, which have demonstrated a preference for British-built vehicles.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Current range

2005 LDV Maxus 2.8 CDi 95 SWB

The current range of vans, the Maxus, was introduced in 2005. The Maxus was originally planned as a joint venture with Daewoo of South Korea. Daewoo however, went into receivership in 2000 before the project came to fruition. LDV subsequently acquired the exclusive rights to the van from General Motors, who had taken over Daewoo, and purchased the existing tooling and shipped it all to Birmingham from the Daewoo plant in Poland where the van was originally intended to be built.^[1]

The Maxus is fitted with direct injection, common rail, diesel engines supplied by VM Motori.^[2]

There are plans for 2009, to start assembly of the Maxus at the GAZ Nizhny Novgorod plant in Russia with 50,000 as an initial volume. (http://www.autoindustry.co.uk/news/05-11-07_4)^[3]^[4]

Recently, there have been reports that the Maxus van will be exported and sold in Australia as the GAZ Maxus, following it's release in the UK.

[edit] Legacy vehicles

Up until early 2006, LDV produced the Convoy and Pilot, derived from the venerable British Leyland Sherpa, and developed considerably throughout the 1970s–90s, and which are a common sight in the UK.^{[citation needed]}

Between 1996 and 2001 LDV sold the Cub, a badge engineered Nissan Vanette.

[edit] History

LDV was formed in 1993 as Leyland DAF Vans Limited following a management buy-out of DAF NV's Leyland DAF van manufacturing division, following the bankruptcy of the Dutch company. Later the name was officially changed to LDV Limited.

Prior to its merger with Leyland Trucks and DAF Trucks in 1987 it was part of the British Leyland / Rover Group empire and was latterly the Freight Rover arm of the Land Rover Group division.

In December 2005, after going into administration, LDV was bought by group Sun Capital/Sun European Partners and was subject to a financial restructuring.^[5] What Van reported LDVs commitment to its existing customers, including an assurance from their marketing director that their production taget of 1000 vans per month would put them well above break-even point.^[6]

The Russian GAZ Group acquired LDV on 31 July 2006, and also established a new company, GAZ International, based in the UK, to focus on the automotive industry.^[3] The BBC reported that a GAZ spokesperson said that the company had appointed former Ford of Europe executive Martin Leach and former A.T. Kearney executive Steve Young to run the business, and that it planned to expand production at LDV's Birmingham plant by adding new product lines and entering new markets in Europe and elsewhere.^[5]