Vauxhall has started taking orders for the new Vivaro van, which will cost from £12,925 when it goes on sale in summer next year.

The Luton-built van - available up to 2.9 tonnes gross vehicle weight and in two wheelbase options - has been jointly developed by General Motors and Renault.

The new range will be sold initially as a panel van with other body conversions available later.

The front-wheel drive Vivaro comes with a choice of two 1.9-litre turbocharged common rail diesel engines (80PS and 100PS). A 120PS 2.0-litre 16v petrol engine and a 133PS 2.5-litre turbocharged common rail diesel will be available later, both with six-speed manual transmission.

On the road prices (excluding VAT) are £12,925 for the 1.9 80PS diesel and £13,525 for the 1.9 100PS diesel. The Vivaro is covered by a three year/100,000 mile warranty.

The short wheelbase Vivaro has a capacity of around five cubic metres, the load area length is 2.41m and height 1.32m.

The long version with a length of 5.18m and a load area length of 2.81m offers enough space for three Euro-pallets. Another standard feature is the one-metre sliding door on the passenger side.

The engines return 38mpg and with a 90-litre tank has a range of about 750 miles between fill-ups.