Stellantis Pro One has unveiled the Smart Compact Van, a new entry-level trim sitting underneath the standard Compact Van range and sold under four separate badges: Citroën Berlingo Van FIRST, Fiat Professional Doblò EasyPRO, Opel Combo START, and Peugeot Partner ACTIVE. Same architecture, four flavours of brand personality layered on top: the Stellantis way. And they’re doing it out of deep understanding on how these vans actually get used.
The groups says its research found that professional drivers travel alone roughly 90% of the time, and that 40% of buyers never use the three seat configuration at all, meaning a sizeable chunk of the compact van market has been paying for, and hauling around, a passenger bench they don’t need. The Smart Compact Van strips that assumption out, drops the price below the rest of the range, and redirects the savings into things that matter more day to day, like a redesigned dashboard and door panels built around solo ergonomics, a more protective front bumper, and a standard-fit Flexiseat (a folding passenger seat that frees up an extra half a cubic metre of load space when you don’t need the spot). There’s an optional Modutable add-on too, turning that folded seat into a makeshift desk or break table, which is a small detail but one I’m sure actually gets used on a job site.
Underneath, the range covers the usual spread: a 42 kWh electric version with up to 270 km of range, plus two diesel and one petrol option, all manual (automatic for the Turkish market specifically, go figure). A mild-hybrid variant is expected to join from 2027.
Cross-brand platform sharing isn’t new for Stellantis: Berlingo, Doblò, Combo and Partner have shared bones for years (to name a few, because my home country of Brazil also saw other models), but this is a more deliberate move than just trimming options for a cheaper sticker. It’s Stellantis looking at four brands that between them sell almost one in every two compact vans in Europe, and deciding the next bit of growth isn’t in adding features, but in correctly identifying which ones nobody was using anyway. Order books open in September, with deliveries from November.
