Intercounty Truck & Van Ltd has teamed up with two of the commercial vehicle industry’s best known suppliers to offer prospective customers an opportunity to try Mercedes-Benz van demonstrators which are truly ‘fit for purpose’.
The Dealer has joined forces with high-profile racking manufacturer Bott and telematics specialist Masternaut to target businesses from the service sector – plumbers and telecoms engineers, for example – which use their vans as mobile workshops.
Intercounty are now offering fuel-efficient demonstrators from the three model lines that make up the multi award-winning Mercedes-Benz van family: the Citan, the Vito and the recently launched new Sprinter, a vehicle that raises the bar once again, in terms of MPG returns and safety.
Intercountys Citan DemoEach has been fitted with space-efficient Bott racking and a Masternaut telematics system, allowing would-be customers to gain an accurate impression of the vehicle’s performance with their own working environment.
Steve Shakespeare, Managing Director at Intercounty Truck & Van, explains: “It makes no sense when you’re trying to win orders from service providers, to give them an empty van for trial.
“What are they to do with it? They can’t put it to work to see how it performs in a real life situation, because it’s not properly kitted out to carry their tools and equipment. Nor do they have the very latest in telematics solutions, with which to measure accurately the van’s impressive fuel economy, monitor the driver’s style and behaviour, or utilise mapping software to aid their own efficiency.
“At Intercounty Truck & Van we’ve addressed this issue through our new partnership with Bott and Masternaut, both leaders in their respective fields. It demonstrates our commitment to understanding and meeting customers’ needs, because unlike traditional demonstrators, our vehicles really are ready to go straight to work.”
Neil Piggott is Sales Manager for Bott’s Vehicle Racking & Enhancement Division, which also applied the vehicle liveries. He confirms: “Intercounty approached us and explained that they were keen to add value for customers trialling their products, and thus make the exercise really worthwhile.
“Bott is a premium quality manufacturer, just like Mercedes-Benz, so we were very happy to enter into this joint venture, which represents a great opportunity to present our racking systems to prospective customers.”
And Chris Horbowyj, National Reseller Manager for Masternaut, adds: “After receiving Intercounty’s invitation I was intrigued to find out more. So I met Steve Shakespeare and was impressed with the thinking behind its desire to offer clients much more than just an empty demo van.
“This initiative gives Intercounty a valuable advantage over its competitors by being able to demonstrate true MPG results in a real life environment utilising our software.”
The van demonstrators are already proving popular with operators. They are:
- A Citan 109CDI Long fitted with Bott’s ‘Modulo’ racking, which can be configured and ordered online, and home-fitted in just 60 minutes;
- A Vito 113CDI Long, with robust and affordable ‘Uno’ racking, and
- A new model Sprinter 313CDI Long, with lightweight, reinforced racking from Bott’s ‘Vario’ range.
All three vehicles have also been equipped by Masternaut with telematics systems that feature ‘eco-drive’ driver-awareness software, which can improve vehicle economy by 10-15%; ‘live’ dynamic map-based tools for best-in-class business reporting, and tax & expense manager, a system claimed to be “the most accurate mileage collection technology on the market”.
