This a kind of left-hand/right-hand story. First of all I get an e-mail press release from MAN which tells me it's just struck a "framework agreement for the delivery of more than 500 trucks" with Veolia, thereby "...reinforcing a business relationship that's existed since 2004. The agreement is a milestone in our partnership with Veolia", Josef Sindl of Business Center Key Accounts at MAN Nutzfahrzeuge tells Biglorryblog whon is suitably impressed.
So far so blah...indeed you're kind of left with the impression that MAN has got it all nicely tied up. Only click through here to see how few fleets ever put all their eggs in one basket.
Next BLB gets a e-press release from Mitsubishi Fuso proclaiming that "Canter cleans up for Veolia." Errr......right. It seems that Veolia Environmental Services has invested in no less than 20 Mitsubishi Fuso Canter comprising "....16 new 3.5-tonne 3C11 and four 7.5-tonne 7C15 models, supplied by Warrington Mercedes-Benz dealer Enza. All 20 trucks are fitted with cage tipper bodies by Omega Commercials, of
Veolia Environmental Services' Chief Engineer Phil Ellis tells us: "The Canter is ideally suited to this kind of work. It has compact exterior dimensions, combined with a proper truck-style ladder chassis that is easy to build on. And, in 7.5-tonne form particularly, it also boasts a very high payload." And he goes on to say: "A major plus point in favour of these vehicles was that they could be delivered to a very tight frame. Choosing the Canter also helps us to further standardise our vehicle fleet [and now here comes the interesting bit] - we want to deal with Mercedes-Benz as our after sales provider as much as possible."
I can hear the eyebrows being raised in