End of the road for CF2 - July 1987

Commercial Motor - 23rd July 1987, Page 19

End of the road for CF2

• The final chapter in the story of Bedford's CF van appears to be drawing to a close with the news that the company is to cease production of the 2.3-3.5-tonne CF2 van and chassis cab range at the end of the month.
Bedford, currently embroiled in the details of its life-saving venture with the Japanese manufacturer Isuzu (CM 2 May), will offer only a terse "no comment", but a number of Bedford dealers say they have been notified by GM that no more CF2s will be built after the end of July.
The CF is produced at Bedford's Luton assembly plant, which also builds the Isuzu-derived Midi van and the Suzuki-designed Rascal micro range. The Luton plant is scheduled to shut down for its three-week summer break on 24 July and it is expected that all CF production will end on that date.
According to Burgh Heath, Surrey-based Vauxhall Bedford dealer French & Foxwell, GM has sent a letter to all its CF dealers stating that it will not continue with CF beyond the 1987 model year.
Biggs says that GM stopped taking orders for the CF "some time ago", and that it has been difficult to get hold of chassis cabs for a number of months.
The phasing out of the CF has also been confirmed by Portsmouth-based dealer USG and by Syd Abrams of Manchester, which says it has been told the CF will no longer be built at Luton after the end of the month.
The termination of CF production is another step in Bedford's retrenchment in the UK commercial vehicle industry. The original CF range was launched in October 1969 as a competitor to Ford's Transit, and was most recently revised in 1984 with new engines and gearboxes, an improved interior and facelifted cab with better engine access.
Sales suffered
Since the introduction of the Luton-built Midi, and more importantly of the new Ford Transit, CF sales have suffered a marked decline as it became long overdue for replacement.
GM originally intended to supersede the CF with its much-reported "World Van", using its global manufacturing and design resources to produce in a number of countries a basic model with common components, but the project was shelved in the middle of last year, leaving the future of the CF even more uncertain.
One alternative for Bedford is to engineer another, heavier, Isuzu panel van range which will include a chassis cab, for the UK, This option could be one of the major factors within the proposed Isuzu-Bedford deal, under which GM will sell its loss-making van plant to a new joint venture company in which Isuzu will hold 40%. The departure of the CF leaves a major gap in Bedford's van line-up, particularly in the lucrative 3.5-tonne sector, which has grown fast in recent years. It will also leave Bedford without a chassis cab model to sell into the utility and municipal markets and for conversion for the ambulance services.
While GM is not even admitting that it is about to drop the CF, it is expected to plug the gap left by the CF's departure with more powerful diesel Midi models — possible even turbocharged — until its replacement arrives.


Source: Commercial Motor Archive