Hyundai H350 (Ford Transit/Merc Sprinter Competitor)

[Hemily]

I wonder how clever it was to put the aerial all the way up there on the roof...

it's not, i drive a Opel Movano at work, it's got it in the same spot, and it's broken.

 

[rickhamilton620]

Yes the H1 owner doesn't, but he's Heikki the plumber, not Pentti the fleet manager.

It's reeeeeeally similar body. I mean just look at the lines around the door:

View attachment 14427
View attachment 14428

I have also noted that the real world van does indeed say Hyundai H350 on the rear doors, unlike the shoops. I wonder how clever it was to put the aerial all the way up there on the roof...

I think the Hyundai looks more attractive.

As far as branding goes, its a somewhat similar story here except in the US, depending on the area, pulling up in a Mercedes isn't going to present the best impression...similar to why doctors chose Buicks over Caddys ages ago.

That's one reason why you can get either a Freightliner badged sprinter or a MB branded model.

 

[Perc]

That's one reason why you can get either a Freightliner badged sprinter or a MB branded model.

Yeah, image is important. If you're selling office supplies, you can't pull up to customers in a BMW even if it's a 518d because that would look too frivolous. A Volvo with all the bells and whistles at ~1.5x the price is fine though.

I read this way back then on the news, and it stuck because it's so ridiculous. The boss of the Swedish Red Cross got a company car, an X-type diesel. He's a car guy and wanted something different. It was also cheaper than much of the competition. After lots of angry letters and whatnot, he had to admit defeat, get rid of the car (losing money in the process) and get a Volvo.

And I remember a traveling salesman paying us a visit a couple of years ago, in a Hummer H2 on chrome wheels bigger than some European countries. :lol: I actually asked him about it and apparently he had a side business renting out ridiculous cars to stag parties and other events. The Hummer had been sitting for a while so he thought he'd give it some air.

 

[laxmax613]

That's one reason why you can get either a Freightliner badged sprinter or a MB branded model.

The Freightliner thing gets at something a little more pragmatic than image, though. And that's fleet sales and service. If you've got a fleet composed of larger and smaller commercial vehicles, you're going to want to buy them all at the same dealer and get them serviced by the same people at the same place. It's why GMC had a line that once went from the Caballero at the bottom to the General at the top at one point. To give fleet buyers flexibility.

 

[DanRoM]

Yeah, image is important. If you're selling office supplies, you can't pull up to customers in a BMW even if it's a 518d because that would look too frivolous.

The boss couple of my former employers - a company that had its customer base in the trading business, mostly discounters - both drove Porsches as company cars...