It is now extinct.
Chevy has discontinued the City Express van work van. But you probably didn’t notice. Perhaps you were too busy. It’s easy to let life get in the way. It’s not easy to coordinate Beyonce’s Coachella performance while working, getting the kids to school, or making sure that the home doesn’t collapse like a dying star. Maybe you didn’t notice Chevy’s rebranded work van buzzing around town, because sales were poor.
Automotive News reported that less than 30,000 City Express vans were sold in the United States since the van went on sale in November 2014. This was the source of the van’s demise. This compares to the Ford Transit Connect which was launched in 2009 and has sold more than 42,500 units annually since 2013. You now know why you haven’t seen a Chevy Express work van.
The City Express is a product from a GM partnership and Nissan. It debuted in February 2014. The City Express is a rebadged Nissan N200 that sold significantly better. The peak City Express sales were 10,283 in 2015. This was the van’s first year of sale. Nissan sold more 17,300 NV200s. Ford sold 52,200 Transit Connects in the same year, while 11,000 RamProMaster City vans were sold that year – its first year of sales.
If there were any hint that the City Express would die, it is likely. GM informed dealers last summer that it was planning to remove the compact work van form its lineup. GM placed its final orders in September 2017 for the 2018 model-year vans. Production will end February at Nissan’s Cuernavaca assembly plant in Mexico.
A spokeswoman for Nissan told Automotive News that the supply agreement between the automakers was annual. She said that Nissan “remains committed” to the compact van segment. A GM spokesperson declined to comment on the reasons for the van’s discontinuance or if there will ever be a replacement.
It is likely that Nissan will continue to make the NV200 compact van despite the end of this agreement. According to the publication, Nissan holds about 25% of the U.S. compact van market. This slice of the pie may grow slightly now Chevy is gone.