The LDV Maxus is a light commercial van model, originally produced by LDV Limited. It was launched in the end of 2004. The model was jointly developed by LDV and Daewoo Motor, prior to Daewoo entering receivership in November 2000, in a five year, £500 million development programme.
Following General Motors' 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. A version of the Maxus is manufactured by GAZ.
In March 2011, the Chinese company Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) launched a new commercial vehicle marque called Maxus, 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.
Since its launch, the Maxus received good reviews and sold well across the United Kingdom. The van was used on fleet basis by companies, such as National Grid, Royal Mail, and various services of the British Police.
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 GAZ, 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 wheelbases, three roof heights and a choice of 2.8t, 3.2t and 3.5t GVW. The vehicle was also available in these roles:
A platinum version became available with metallic paint, alloy wheels, air conditioning, tinted windows and additional front fog lights
Available from the summer of 2011, the Chinese built V80, marketed under the new Maxus marque, is available in three versions: standard, logistics 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 100kW.
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 May 2014, the Maxus V80 was exported to Colombia, and in May 2015 to Ireland, and in 2016, to the United Kingdom.
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