LDV Maxus is a family of lightweight front-wheel delivery vehicles of the LCV2 category (with a gross weight of 2.8-3.5 tons) produced in 2004-2008 by the English company LDV Group Limited (Leyland-DAF Vans) from Birmingham. The Maxus family was offered in three "weight categories" - 2.8; 3.2 and 3.5 t with short (3.1 m) and elongated (3.85 m) wheelbase options. The carrying capacity ranged from 917 to 1616 kg. The maximum internal length of the cargo compartment is 3.36 m, the internal width is 1.77 m, the internal height is 1.93 m. Since 2006, Maxus trucks and chassis with separate three- and six-seater cabs, on-board platforms and van bodies have also been produced. -boxing. The cargo compartment is equipped with anti-slip and easy-to-wash material and equipped with loops for securing the cargo. The distance between the rear arches of 1.39 m was designed to accommodate Euro pallets. The back door - with two swing wings at 100 °. In addition to the basic versions of the vans, the Maxus family included specialized and special versions, including a refrigerated van and reanimobile. The three-seater cabin met modern ergonomic requirements. The basic equipment list included air conditioning and an audio system with a CD player. The brake system was equipped with Bosch ABS and EBD.
| Maxus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Total information | |
| Manufacturer | LDV Group Limited |
| Years of production | 2004 - 2008 |
| Assembly | LDV (Birmingham) / GAS (Nizhny Novgorod) |
| Class | N1 (M1) |
| Other designations | GAZ Maxus |
| Design | |
| Body type | chassis with cab van combi minibus |
| Layout | front |
| Engine | |
| VM Motori CDI diesel engine (2.5 l, 95 hp, 280 N • m, Euro 3, on request 120 and 135 hp, 300 and 330 N • m) | |
| Transmission | |
| 5-speed manual | |
| Specifications | |
| Mass-dimensional | |
| Wheelbase | 3100 and 3850 mm |
| Full mass | 2800, 3200 and 3500 kg |
| Dynamic | |
| Top speed | 180 km / h |
| Other | |
| Carrying capacity | from 917 to 1616 kg |
| Volume of the tank | 80 l |
At the end of 2007, the Maxus family product line consisted of 87 modifications, with 51 modifications being updated:
- full metal van, from 2.8 t to 3.5 t - 39 modifications with four options for the useful volume of the cargo compartment: 7.0, 7.8, 10.3 and 11, 4 m³;
- chassis with a 3-seater cabin, from 2.8 t to 3.5 t - 9 modifications;
- chassis with a double 6-seater cabin, 3.5 t - 3 modifications;
- dump truck, 3.5 t - 3 modifications;
- airborne, from 2.8 t to 3.5 t - 9 modifications;
- minibus, from 3.2 t to 3.9 t - 12 modifications;
- combi, from 3.2 t to 3.9 t - 12 modifications.
Content
History of Creation and Sales in England
The Maxus family was developed to replace the obsolete rear-wheel drive bonnet families LDV Pilot and Convoy, dating back to the 1966 Austin Sherpa model. The development of the Maxus family was carried out jointly by LDV Limited and Daewoo Motor for 5 years and cost £ 500 million. After the purchase of the bankrupt company Daewoo by General Motors , LDV Group retained all the intellectual rights to the development of Maxus. Then she acquired the technological equipment of the Polish Daewoo plant in Lublin and moved the equipment to the LDV plant in Birmingham. Serial production of Maxus wagons has been deployed since the end of 2004. Since 2005, Maxus family vans and vans have been entering the UK market. A significant share in sales is made up of fleet deliveries, for example, to such structures as Transco, Royal Mail (royal mail) and the British police. The new Maxus family was highly appreciated by British experts, so Professional Van and Light Truck Magazine awarded him the Van of the Year 2005 award. In 2007, according to the Institute of Transport Management in the United Kingdom, LDV was recognized as the winner in three categories: "Company of the Year in the UK - 2007", "Manufacturer of LCV in the UK - 2007" and "Box of the Year - 2007". Sales of commercial vehicles under the Maxus brand in 2007 in the UK market totaled 8,620 units. compared with 6 722 units. in 2006 year. The Maxus family has been exported to Turkey, Malaysia, France and Russia. In mid-2008, LDV faced a drop in demand due to the financial crisis and completely stopped production at the end of the year. The Russian GAZ Group, which bought a controlling stake in an English company in mid-2006, also found itself on the verge of bankruptcy, refused to invest in LDV, and in June 2009 the British declared bankruptcy. Currently, the LDV brand has ceased to exist as a European automaker. Its production equipment was completely bought out by one of the leading Chinese automobile concerns - Shanghai SAIC Motor Corporation Limited (annual turnover of more than $ 50 billion), which dismantled it and moved it from Birmingham to Shanghai , where it reassembled in its own new enterprise no longer any relation to an English company that does not have .
History of the Maxus Family Advance to Russia
On July 28, 2006, the Russian corporation GAZ Group acquired a controlling stake in LDV Group Limited for 991,000 thousand rubles. ($ 40.373 million). Until 2008, GAZ Group invested $ 100 million in its English subsidiary and intended to increase the load of its LDV production facilities to project 15 thousand cars per year. Officially, sales of the Maxus family started on the Russian market in August 2007, but actual sales due to a delay in certification of the car began only in March 2008. The Maxus family has been specifically adapted to the requirements of the Russian market and operating conditions on Russian roads. Since May 2008, it was planned to deploy a large-node SKD assembly of Maxus vans and minibuses directly at GAZ's facilities, but this was not possible. According to GAZ Group’s plans, as Maxus’s localization share increases, starting in 2009, production was to be transferred to a small-site assembly using CKD technology with body welding and painting up to 50 thousand a year. On the basis of all-metal vans, it was planned to develop a whole line of isothermal vans, minibuses and ambulances. In order to deepen the localization of the production of the Maxus family, the GAZ Group also intended to acquire a 49% stake in the Italian motor-building company VM Motori , whose turbo-diesel engines rated at 95-120 hp equipped with LDV cars. However, due to the financial crisis, the transaction did not take place, GAZ Group sold its share of shares to the Chinese and as of 2010 retains only the rights of the general distributor of LDV products in Russia. The main competitor of Maxus in the Russian market was considered to be a 2002 licensed Fiat Ducato assembled at Sollers-Elabuga.
According to the plans announced by GAZ before the financial crisis, in 2010 the Maxus family should undergo restyling, and the updated design and interior of the cab were supposed to be used for the promising rear-wheel drive families “GAZel-3” (3.5-5.0 tons of gross weight) and “Valdai” -2 "(6.0-8.0 tons), the production of which is scheduled for 2012-2013. Accordingly, the Maxus II family (2.8-3.5 tons) should have completely displaced the Sobol and GAZel-2 families by 2012, however, these plans were denounced already at the end of 2008.
Maxus Second Life in China and Southeast Asia
In October 2009, the Russian GAZ Group ceded a controlling stake in LDV Groupe to the Chinese investment company Eco Concept, which is associated with Nanjing Auto, which, in turn, has been part of Shanghai SAIC since 2007, which, in turn, completely transferred all production of LDV Group in China. In April 2011, at the Shanghai Motor Show, the presentation of a new family of light delivery vehicles ( LCVs ) and minibuses slightly modified to meet the local requirements of the V80 family took place, and in July 2011 they began mass production already under their own Maxus-Datong brand at the newest, specially created car factory SAIC Commercial Vehicle Co. near Shanghai, with an annual output of 100,000 cars only at the facilities of the first stage. In case of good conditions by 2015, SAIC CV Co. the second stage of the enterprise may be introduced, which will increase production to 400-500 thousand cars per year. The Chinese Maxus-Datong V80 family includes 24 major versions in 96 versions.
In addition, since the end of 2011, in the Malaysian city of Port Klang, a SAIC joint venture with a local Weststar company has deployed the Maxus-Datong V80 CKD assembly from Chinese car kits to replace the LDV Maxus from English kits assembled since 2007. The production volume of Maxus-Datong V80 in Malaysia is estimated at about 12,000 units. per year of which 10,000 units. will be exported to Southeast Asian countries.