The 2020 Commercial Vehicle Show has officially been cancelled due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Due to take place at the Birmingham NEC on 28-30 April, the CV Show is the UK’s biggest commercial vehicle event, and its disrruption will be a major blow to the van, pickup and truck industry here and abroad.
Here’s the official cancellation statement from the organisers:
It is with great regret that we announce that the Commercial Vehicle Show 2020 has been cancelled.In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic together with guidance issued by the government on Monday evening (16 March 2020) that all mass gatherings are to be avoided, it is clear that the only realistic options for this year’s Show were cancellation or postponing to a later date.
The option of postponing was given careful consideration given the importance of the Show to the road transport sector; however, it was felt there were too many unknown variables to make this option possible. As ever, our priority is to ensure the health and safety of all those involved with the Show.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our exhibitors, registered visitors, Show team and other stakeholders for their continued support during this most challenging and unprecedented of times.
Keep reading for full details of what the CV Show was supposed to involve in 2020.
2020 Commercial Vehicle Show info – and what the cancellation means for van and pickup business in the UK
On this page you’ll find all the info you need about the 2020 CV Show that never was. Following the cancellation, the most important parts are details about all the major van and pickup exhibitors, especially those who were planning to unveil new vehicles at the show.
These new vans and pickups will still appear. We know that many brands were already furiously planning for the CV Show cancellation ahead of the official annnouncement and will already alternative means of announcing their new machines to the world in place.
Parkers will of course continue to cover all these developments in our news and reviews section. It’s possible some launches will now be delayed until the Hanover IAA van and truck show, which is due to take place in late September 2020 (COVID-19 permitting).
What these new plans can’t recreate in the CV Show’s absence is the event’s unique facility to bring customers together with all the key movers and shakers at the vehicle manufacturers. We know that major deals are always done at the Commercial Vehicle Show, so firms will have to think smartly to find other ways to interact at this level at the current time.
But even if you’re just a sole operator, the cancellatiion of the show means you no longer have access to a free event that allows you to compare and contrast a large range of vehicles in the metal – not too mention that the opportunity to see and experience all the latest technology in one place is now gone, as is the chance to give feedback on vehicles you already own to people who can really do something with it.
So, this is big blow. But the cancellation is also being done for the right reasons, and hopefully the CV Show wiill bounce back bigger and better than ever in the years to come.
What is the CV Show?
The CV Show is the UK’s largest Commercial Vehicle Show, and it takes place once a year at the Birmingham NEC. It covers all kinds of commercial vehicles, but we’re going to concentrate on the vans, pickups and other LCVs (light commercial vehicles), as you’d probably expect.
This is always an important event in the calendar, but 2020 was to see the return of several van makers who skipped the 2019 show, plus some brand new exhibitors as well.
Highlights were set to include the opportunity to see new electric vans from a number of manufacturers – including Citroen, Peugeot, Vauxhall and Maxus (the new name for LDV) – plus some brand new conventional vans, too.
In addition to this, we were expecting to see new special editions and even some concept vehicles that preview future technology and ideas that may or may not reach full scale production. A number of brands were also going to be displaying customer vehicles, demonstrating the increasing importance of the van conversion business.
Were there any new features for the 2020 CV Show?
The CV Show’s exhibition layout is always divided into zones, such as the Workshop Zone (for parts and equipment) and Cool Zone (for everything related to refrigeration), with large stands from van and pickup makers dotted throughout.
New for 2020, however, was to be a Live Theatre area. This would have given show visitors the chance to attend talks, and offer ‘insight and education into a wide range of topics’.
There was be an opportunity to test drive some vans and pickups at the show, too.
When was the 2020 CV Show supposed to take place?
The CV Show was supposed to happen 28-30 April 2020 at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) Birmingham:
The NEC is one of the best transport-connected exhibition centres in the country, and can be reached easily by road, rail and even air, as it’s located very near to Birmingham International Airport and has its own train station.
Will the show need to issue refunds?
Tickets to attend the CV Show are completely free, so it won’t need to issue any refunds.
What will happen with the money businesses have paid to exhibit at the show hasn’t been officially announced at the time of writing. We’ve asked.
Why should I visit the CV Show?
This will now only be relevant for future years, but as we’ve mentioned above and the video below explains, the CV Show is your opportunity to speak directly to key people at van and pickup manufacturers, right here in the UK, as well as aftermarket suppliers and converters.
You can get up close and personal with almost all the major new vans and pickups on sale (even though Mercedes-Benz doesn’t attend, for example, there will almost certainly be examples of its vehicles there on other stands), and discuss your exact requirements with the people who know the products better than anyone else – often because they were directly responsible for building them.
It’s also your chance to find out and learn more about the latest technology. This might be in the area of safety, fuel economy or connectivity. For instance, as more and more van makers launch vehicles equipped with 4G Wi-Fi modems direct from the factory, this is a great way to find out more about how this tech can help you.
Being connected to your van by your smartphone may seem like a gimmick, but there are real business benefits, too.
A-Z of vans and pickups due to be exhibited at the CV Show 2020
While there were still quite a lot of secrets ahead of the show when it was cancelled, we did have a list of all the van and pickup makers attending in 2020, and some details of what they were due to be showing had started to come through. Expect to see all of the following appear on Parkers’ pages over the next few weeks via other means.
Citroen
Star of the Citroen show stand was to be the e-Dispatch electric van, making its public world debut ahead of going on sale later in 2020. We were hoping for more details of the e-Relay and e-Berlingo, too.
Dacia
Dacia – which is the budget offshoot of Renault – does not currently have any commercial vehicles in its UK line-up at all but had booked a space at this year’s show according to the publically available official exhibitors’ list. Will be interesting to see what it’s got planned when the announcement is now finally made.
Fiat Professional
While it was not totally clear what Fiat’s van arm would be displaying this year, it was likely to be the UK public debut for the recently facelifted Talento and Ducato, and maybe our first chance to see the Ducato Electric in the metal.
>> Fiat Ducato Electric promises 223-mile driving range
Ford
Ford was due to display no less than 26 vehicles at the 2020 CV Show – that’s more than ever before, quite the statement from what is already the UK’s bestselling van brand. The stand was also set to feature zones demonstrating electric vehicle technology and connectivity, plus a selection of new vehicle variants that we haven’t seen before.
Stay tuned to Parkers for more details of these soon.
>> Shots fired: how Ford plans to sell even more vans
Isuzu
There had been no firm details from Isuzu, but it usually attended with a range of converted D-Max pickups and springs at least a couple of surprise launches – last year these included the D-Max XTR (pictured).
April was probably too early to see the all-new 2020 D-Max (which we’ve already driven) in Europe, however. That may be one that was already waiting for the Hanover show in September instead.
>> All-new 2020 Isuzu D-Max early drive
Iveco
Iveco was to have a couple of Daily vans slotted into its stand between various truck debuts – a 3.5-tonne model powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) and a 7.0-tonne model that’s unmatched by any competitor. It would have been a good opportunity to find out more about the firm’s advanced connectivity technology, too.
LDV Maxus
The 2020 event was set to be a major milestone for this Chinese-owned brand. Still listed as LDV on the exhibitors list, by the time the show was set to arrive it will have completed its renaming exercise and become Maxus instead.
What’s more, it was due to hold the European public debut of the Deliver 9 large van and full production version of the e Deliver 5 all-electric van – which both represent a massive step forward for the company. A big shame for Maxus.
>> Maxus e Deliver 3 electric van – full details
>> Maxus Deliver 9 large van – full details
LEVC
A new exhibitor for 2020, LEVC is the London Electric Vehicle Company, which builds the latest London taxi. More to the point, this Chinese-owned firm was to be showing its new range-extender electric van in public for the first time, which we now know is called the VN5.
Expect more info on this – including the first official pricing – very soon.
>> LEVC VN5 electric van – official details
MAN
MAN was to have trucks and vans on its stand as usual, with the likely star on the van side set to be right-hand drive versions of the eTGE. This large electric van is closely related to Volkswagen Crafter, but beats VW to the UK market in using electric power.
>> MAN eTGE electric van – latest details
Mitsubishi
This was to be the UK show debut for the L200 Series 6 – as it only went on sale here in the later part of 2019 – and there would have been a selection on show at the NEC. In addition to this, Mitsubishi was also going to display commercial 4x4 examples of the Shogun Sport and Outlander PHEV.
>> Mitsubishi L200 Series 6 full review
>> Mitsubishi Shogun Sport Commercial full review
>> Mitsubishi Outlander Commercial full review
Nissan
No official word from Nissan, but the stand was certain to have the latest version of the Navara pickup on display for the first time – perhaps in AT32 guise as well as regular versions. The firm also has a new small van called the NV250 that hadn’t been displayed at the CV Show before either.
>> Nissan NV250 – full details
Peugeot
More electric van action from Peugeot, which was to show the e-Expert alongside the equivalent models from stand and brand neighbours Citroen and Vauxhall. We were also expecting more info on the e-Boxer and e-Partner.
>> Peugeot e-Expert – latest details
Renault
Renault was set to return to the CV Show having skipped it in 2019. The big theme of the stand was to be electrification – with the firm keen to remind everyone that while others are still only talking about electric vans it has been selling the Kangoo ZE and Master ZE for years. As such there were due to be examples of genuine customer electric vans on display.
Birmingham was also to be the first UK show outing for the revised Trafic and Master, and we’d been told to expect some new product, too – though exactly what this is remains under wraps.
Toyota Professional
Toyota Professional is the new name for Toyota’s commercial vehicle business, intended to underline that it’s moving to support businesses much more thoroughly than it has perhaps done for a while.
Underlining this further, its CV Show star was to be the Proace City, a new small van that was previewed in 2019 and strengthens the firm’s LCV line-up. We’ve now driven it, however, so there were no surprises lurking on that front.
Vauxhall
Vauxhall was set to show the Vivaro-e for the first time – the pure electric version of its latest medium van, due to go on sale before the end of 2020. In addition to this we may have learned more about the Combo-e electric small van; we were not expecting an electric version of the Movano.
>> Vauxhall Vivaro-e – latest details
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
Birmingham was to see the UK show debut of the T6.1 Transporter, and although this has now started arriving at dealerships it would probably have been the first chance for many potential buyers to take a look at the facelifted model.
The e-Transporter electric van was due to be there again, too – this should finally be available to buy in the UK before the end of 2020. In addition, there were plans to display a number of customer vehicles as a means of demonstrating what Volkswagen can do for your business.
>> Volkswagen Transporter full review
>> Volkswagen e-Transporter full details
