Barconn has taken its first delivery of 26 Mercedes-Benz vans in a move to “lay firm foundations for success”.

The 26 vehicles were delivered to the Dereham-based company by Dealer Orwell Truck & Van, the manufacturer’s representative in East Anglia.

The 109 CDI version of the Citan accounts for 23 of the new vehicles, the majority of which are long-bodied panel vans excepting one extra-long crew van.

Completing the line-up are a pair of mid-sized Vito 111 CDI vans, and a larger, 3.5-tonne Sprinter 314 CDI chassis cab with beaver-tail body.

Barconn’s plant manager Patrick Brooks said: “The dealer’s sales executive Phil Hutson persuaded our director Tony Barker that he could put together a compelling package for us, and he duly delivered on that promise.”

The proposal presented to Barconn was based on competitive funding support from Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, and included fixed-cost ServiceCare plans under which all routine maintenance would be covered by a simple monthly payment.

“The funding agreement represents excellent value, while we were impressed, too, by the dealer’s aftersales provision,” said Brooks.

Barconn runs a total fleet of 60 vans. Its new Mercedes-Benz vehicles have been filtering through in twos and threes since last October, and the first now has 22,000 miles on the clock.

Brooks said: “These are still early days, but we’ve already seen enough to be confident we made the right choice.

"Our new vans are doing really well. We’ve not had any issues, although the fact that they’re backed by three-year, unlimited mileage warranties, and came with MobiloVan 24-hour emergency breakdown cover, also gives us great peace of mind.”