Ayrshire businessman Alan Rafferty has become one of the first in Britain to acquire the latest Mercedes-Benz Citan van.
As managing director of Stewarton-based ARF Engineering & Construction Services, Rafferty is now running two Citans with fuel-saving BlueEfficiency packages.
Both the vans are 109 CDI versions with 90bhp diesel engines – the Citan is also offered with 75bhp and 110bhp diesels, or a 114bhp petrol unit. One is a Dualiner, the other an Extra-long panel van.
Rafferty, who founded his business in 1996, traded in a larger, five-year-old Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van as part of the deal.
"The Sprinter's been very reliable and we'll probably replace it later in the year," he explains.
"But a lot of our work for local authorities and housing associations entails response maintenance jobs to public buildings, schools and the like. We might only be relaying two or three slabs, or renewing a bit of brick wall, so the smaller, more fuel-efficient Citan makes a lot more sense, economically."
The Mercedes-Benz Citan has a capacity of up to 3.8 m³ and a maximum payload of 735 kg. It is among the small van market leaders, in terms of fuel efficiency, achieving up to 65.7 mpg with CO2 emissions of 112 g/km.
