First Peugeot, now Citroen launches their new Commercial Vehicle, enter the new Relay.

Building upon the success of the current Relay range, the New Citroën Relay brings class-leading payloads and load space practicality; square-sided load compartments; wide load decks; and some of the lowest load deck heights in its class. Complementing its load carrying practicality, New Relay also delivers higher levels of standard equipment, extended service intervals; up to 15% more fuel efficient engines and lower emissions – as well as a new range of options to improve safety and driver comfort.

Jeremy Smith, Citroën’s Head of Commercial Vehicles & Business Sector Operations, comments; “When it goes on sale in the third quarter this year, New Relay will build upon the success of its predecessor which, even at the end of its production life, is still delivering high UK sales volumes. We expect the wide choice of New Relay variants – all offering class-leading load carrying practicality and low cost of operation, coupled with even higher standards of equipment – will increase its popularity with both national fleets and Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) businesses.”

The New Citroën Relay stands out from its competitors with a stylish new front end and large high-mounted headlights incorporating daytime running lights. It also incorporates a striking new grille and chevron design as well as a large, multi-piece front bumper to minimise accident damage and reduce repair costs.

In developing New Relay, Citroën’s engineers have applied the latest technology and materials to raise the reliability of high stress usage items such as doors and suspension. Intensive New Relay development has involved:

• Over 4,000,000km of engineering road testing
• 500,000 door slam tests (equivalent to 10 year’s intensive use)
• 30,000km of testing on poor quality road surfaces & intensive testing on low grip surfaces
• 1,000 water fording operations to test sealing

As a result of this intensive development programme, New Relay’s body structures incorporate multiple-point reinforcement to raise body rigidity, improve durability and also to lower noise levels.

High use, high stress items such as the rear doors have been reinforced and higher strength door hinges are now used. Similarly, the sliding side load doors have benefited from reinforced rails, re-designed runners and improved door locks – all of which raise durability and security standards.

Underbody improvements include re-designed shock absorber mountings for reduced road noise.
Braking performance has been optimised with dimensional and tolerance changes; these have reduced operational noise as well as improving braking performance.

Citroën’s advanced HDi diesel engine choice for the New Relay range has significantly improved, with up to 15% better fuel economy and lower CO₂ emissions figures. Now, all New Relay panel vans in the 3.0 - 3.5 tonne gvw sector have excellent combined cycle fuel economy of up to 42.8mpg and sub-200g/km CO₂emission figures.

Other operating cost reduction features include extended service intervals of up to 2 years or 30,000 miles. All New Relay panel vans have Citroën’s unique Trafficmaster SmartNav intelligent satellite navigation and Trackstar stolen vehicle tracking, which provides further operational cost savings and efficiency gains.

New Citroën Relay Range

The New Citroën Relay will be available with a comprehensive choice range of factory-built variants, including:

• Panel vans in 3.0, 3.3, 3.5 & 4.005 tonne gvw formats
• Panel vans available with high specification as standard & further enhancements with Enterprise versions
• A choice of four panel van load lengths & three roof heights for load volumes of 8, 10, 13 & 17m³
• Panel vans payloads ranging from 1140 - 1995kg
• Choice of 3.5 & 4.005 tonne gvw chassis cabs
• A 3.5 tonne gvw chassis crew cab
• 3.5 tonne gvw back-to-back cab units for special low-loading, hi-cube conversions
• New Relay Specialist tippers, dropsides & Luton vans

New Citroën Relay – Cab Comfort

In a New Relay, the driver and crew benefit from even higher levels of comfort thanks to new cab trim and a new dashboard layout. New Relay offers an unrivalled level of comfort and practical features including a dual passenger seat, incorporating a drop-down desk unit. In addition, electric windows and electrically operated and heated door mirrors are standard, together with DAB radio; steering mounted audio controls and Bluetooth® system. To ensure a comfortable driving position, the steering wheel adjusts for rake and reach.

Up to 10 in-cab storage areas are available, including the glovebox; a dash-mounted document clip and various open or lidded compartments on the dashboard. In addition, there are large door pockets, storage space beneath the passenger seat and a sizeable 22-litre overhead storage compartment. New Relay also has 12v power sockets in both the cab and in the load compartment, and there is extensive interior lighting within the cab. A multi-function trip computer forms part of the vehicle’s electronic instrument display adding to New Relay’s premium appeal.

New Citroën Relay – A Wide Choice of Panel Vans

For practicality, all New Relay panel vans offer large internal body dimensions including best-in-class load width between wheel arches of 1420mm and side door widths of up to 1250mm. Complementing these large load compartment dimensions is New Relay’s very low load deck height.

The smallest New Relay L1H1 panel van can be specified in 3.0 and 3.3 tonne gross weights, and has a load space volume of 8.0 m³. The New Relay L1H1 has generous internal dimensions, which include a load length of 2670mm; an internal load compartment height of 1662mm; a maximum load width of 1870mm and a between-the-wheel arches dimension of 1420mm – wide enough for an 8ft x 4ft sheet to be loaded flat on the floor. 

The medium wheelbase New Relay L2 model can be specified in both standard and high roof formats, giving respective load volumes of 10m³ and 11.5m³. The New Relay L2 panel van has a load deck length of 3120mm and either an interior load height of 1662mm (H1) or 1932mm (H2). The L2 New Relay can be specified in 3.3, 3.5 and 4.005 tonne gross weight versions. 

In long wheelbase L3 format, New Relay is available in 3.3, 3.5 and 4.005 tonne gross weight versions with the H2 roof height. In this configuration, the New Relay van has a load deck length of 3705mm and an internal load height of 1932mm, which gives a 13 m³ capacity.

The largest New Relay panel vans are the 3.5 and 4.005 tonne gvw L4H2 and L4H3 models, which have a load deck length of 4070mm. These are produced in ‘Heavy Specification’ with 16-inch wheels and tyres, and uprated heavy duty rear suspension. In L4H2 format, the New Relay has a load volume of 15m³, which is increased to an impressive 17m³ for the L4H3 model. 

New Citroën Relay – Load Carrying Efficiency

Thanks to efficient engineering and extensive use of high tensile steel, the New Relay range offers some of the highest available payloads in its class. New Relay panel vans offer a choice of payloads from 1140 – 1995kg.

The two expected best-selling New Relay models are the New Relay 30 L1H1 HDi 110 six-speed manual and the New Relay 35 L3H2 HDi 130 six-speed manual. The 30 L1H1 HDi 110 manual model has a gross payload of 1155kg, up to 243kg better than some of its key competitors. The larger New Relay 35 L3H2 HDi 130 six-speed manual has a gross payload of 1525kg, nearly 400kg better than some of its main competitors.

New Citroën Relay – Efficient Power

Four HDi or e-HDi engines are available in the New Relay range, providing operators with fuel-efficient and low CO₂ emissions power. New Relay is available with the choice of 110, 130 and 150 engines – all are available mated to six-speed, all-synchromesh manual gearboxes. The 130 engine is also available in e-HDi format with Stop & Start on selected versions.  

These 2.2 litre turbo-charged diesel engines offer exceptional fuel economy figures. On the combined cycle, the New Relay 30 powered by the HDi 110hp engine, has a fuel economy figure of 41.5mpg. This rises to 42.8mpg for the same van with the Stop & Start-equipped e-HDi 130 engine. The New Relay 35 L3H2 HDi 130 has a combined cycle fuel economy figure of 38.2mpg, rising to 39.2mpg when powered by the e-HDi 130 engine. All New Relay panel vans of up to 3.5 tonne gvw have sub-200g/km CO₂ emissions, this reduces to 175g/km for the Relay 30 e-HDi 130 powered model.

New Citroën Relay – Now With More Standard Equipment

New Relay builds on the high levels of standard equipment of its predecessor with even higher levels of driver and crew comfort. All New Relay models feature dark grey and black & red twill seat cloth, and have a re-styled dashboard that can incorporate a 5-inch colour LCD screen for the media system and optional reversing camera.

New Relay standard panel van equipment ABS with Emergency Braking Assistance (EBA) Electronic Stability Control (ESC) Driver’s airbag Remote central locking with deadlocks Full steel bulkhead Dual passenger seat Electrically adjustable/heated door mirrors Electric windows DAB digital radio with steering wheel mounted controls Bluetooth® system/USB socket Daytime running lights built into headlights Nearside sliding side-load door Internal load compartment protective panelling to waist height

New Relay Enterprise van equipment Air conditioning Rear parking sensors Cruise control with variable speed limiter Perimetric/volumetric alarm MP3 compatible CD player 5-inch colour touch screen

New Citroën Relay – Comprehensive Option Choice

New Relay offers customers the benefits of a wide range of optional advanced technology. The New Relay’s standard ESC system can be optionally upgraded with Intelligent Traction Control and Hill Descent Control. A Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS) option is also available, which uses a camera mounted in the rear-view mirror to recognise whether the driver has drifted across lane markings without indicating. If this occurs, the driver receives an audible warning as well as a visual one via the instrument panel. LDWS engages at speeds over 37mph and is optionally available on all models including the Relay 40 heavy versions, where it is standard specification.

New Relay is also available with an optional reversing camera coupled with parking sensors in the rear bumper.
The reversing camera is positioned next to the high position third brake light and transmits images to the 5-inch colour LCD screen in the dashboard. The parking camera overlays the image shown with guidelines to make manoeuvring easy in confined spaces. 

Other significant New Relay options include tyre pressure sensors and additional LED front lighting. A variety of option packs are available and include:

• ‘Look Pack’ with LED daytime running lights, front fog lights & full wheel trims
• ‘City Pack’ with rear parking sensors, reversing camera & electrical folding/heated door mirrors
• ‘Comfort Pack’ which includes auto rain sensitive wipers, auto air conditioning, suspended driver’s seat & leather steering wheel
• ‘All-Road Pack’ with Intelligent Traction Control & under body protection
• ‘Safety Pack’ with Lane Departure Warning System, passenger air bag & tyre pressure sensors

New Citroën Relay – Reducing Operating Costs

As well as offering operators the benefits of high payloads and an ultra-practical load compartment, New Relay delivers a wide range of other financial benefits. These include combined cycle fuel economy figures of up to 42.8mpg, as well as the benefits of low CO₂ emissions. Building on these financial efficiencies are New Relay’s extended service intervals of up to 2 years or 30,000 miles (whichever comes first) for normal operations.
Backing these extended service intervals is New Relay’s flexible warranty of 2 years/unlimited mileage or 3 years/100,000 miles (whichever comes first).

As a further means of improving New Relay’s productivity, efficiency and safety is Citroen’s unique Trafficmaster telematics platform. This is fitted as standard on all New Relay vans. This advanced telematics package includes Smartnav intelligent satellite navigation and Trackstar stolen vehicle tracking. 

The Trafficmaster telematics platform also allows New Relay operators to specify Fleet Director, a low-cost real-time fleet management system. With this standard telematics facility, New Relay operators benefit from efficient vehicle routing, avoiding traffic delays, the security of stolen vehicle tracking in the unlikely event of vehicle theft and major reductions in driver stress levels.