VAUXHALL'S new Corsavan hits the road this month with a price tag the same as the outgoing model and the lowest insurance rating of any van on the road. Three versions are on offer - the 1.2i at £8,245 ex-VAT, the 1.7Di at £8,670 and the 1.7DTi at £8,970.

One trim level is available. The new Corsa car won the supermini section of the 2001 British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association Security Awards and the features which won it the accolade are all present in the van version.

Vauxhall security and safety chief Mark Winter said: 'We have been working for a long time to improve these features on the new Corsa, which will in turn result in significant cost of ownership savings over opposition models. The new Corsavan sets the standard for the sector.'

Vans and cars are tested by Thatcham, the insurance industry's research arm, and ratings are given from one to 20, depending on security measures, cost of spare parts and repairability after an accident. Security ratings are also given as follows: A) means acceptable. E) means the vehicle exceeds the security criteria. D) doesn't meet Thatcham's security criteria. U) means unacceptable and uninsurable.

The Corsavan will be launched with a low rating of 1E, compared to the Ford Fiestavan at 5A, Peugeot 206 at 4A, Renault Cliovan at 7D and Fiat Puntovan at 6D. Winter commented: 'We are very pleased but not surprised by this rating, bearing in mind the amount of work we have put into it - you can't get any better than 1E and the others now have a lot of work to do to catch us up.'