Four pickup trucks that are actually one model. Clockwise: Dublo, City, Combo & Berlingo/Image Processing, Keinan Cohen/Manufacturer
The Israeli market is rife with various peculiarities, distortions and fixations. Tell me which one you know and I'll tell you how old you are. Counting horsepower by engine volumes? Divide the cars by engine volumes of 1,000, 1,300 and 1,600cc? Separate taxation on imported car air conditioners, the days of tax havens in the form of Chevrolet Astro/GMC Safari, the tax-deductible medium pickup trucks that brought every accountant to drive a polished and sampled Mitsubishi Magnum, and of course the period of licensing groups, the accounting wonder that led to cars from different manufacturers, purchased in three different currencies, coming from three different continents, from countries with and without trade agreements sold for exactly the same amount - wonder and wonder.
One of the wonders of taxation in the 80s - Ford Sierra 1.3 liters/manufacturer site
So they say it was happy here, but even today, the Israeli car market is not exactly the dream of every sophisticated free market economist when most of the car brands marketed today are held by a number of importer groups with historical import franchises. Even far-reaching reforms of parallel imports have failed miserably to create competition for the benefit of the consumer.
But at the same time, over the past decade and a half, a series of moves and alliances have taken place in the automotive industry that have created quite interesting situations. For example, in order to save development and production costs and strengthen bargaining power with sub-suppliers and improve positions within export markets and expand supply in showrooms, various automakers joined forces to jointly design and manufacture models. And not only within car conglomerates such as Volkswagen (which also includes Skoda, Seat and Audi, for example) or Peugeot-Citroën (now Stellantis) and Renault-Nissan, but also between completely different manufacturers – Toyota, which produces BRZ and GT86 jointly with Subaru, BMW the Supra/Z4, Mazda and Fiat with the 124 Spyder and the Miata, and on the commercial side Fiat and Mitsubishi with the Fullback/Triton. Combine this trend with the centralized maintenance of a number of car brands by the major importers and you have interesting situations, such as the one taking place right now in the truck market.
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Thus, Citroën Berlingo, the undisputed king of the category and synonymous with Tendron is a twin brother to the Opel Combo, both marketed by Lubinski. A third side is the Toyota City and complementing the twin quartet is the Fiat Dublo. They all rest on the exact same base, manufactured together in Spain and Portugal, differing solely in their exterior appearance and interior design.
Almost. Fiat and Berlingo are offered in Israel in electric versions, Opel and Toyota gasoline versions, for example. But in the end - they are completely identical and sold at very similar prices. Except in one place - in the garage. It turns out that even though these 4 tools share the same components, the same engines, pumps, filters, strips, consume the same oils and in the same quantities - there is still a gap in the bill that will be submitted to each of these car owners in the garage.
For our testing, we asked the importers to provide the costs of routine servicing and maintenance of the four vans as they charge their customers. In order to "align", in all cars the handling costs were referred to as the 1.5-litre diesel engine with a power output of 130-131 hp, however, as you can see there is one exception among the models, the Fiat Dublo which has different service intervals than the others (and a longer than usual warranty duration of 5 years) and this has been addressed separately.
Citroën Berlingo, has become synonymous with the category/Keinan Cohen, Keinan Cohen
Citroën Berlingo
Engines:1.5 Turbo Diesel Manual (100 hp) or Automatic (130 hp), Electric (136 hp)
Year introduced:2018
Versions:Short, long maxi for luggage and 7-seat
configuration Price range:169-190,15 NIS Service interval:3,90 km/year
Warranty:8 years
Total maintenance cost for 934,<> km: <>,<> NIS
Test via Citroën Berlingo
Toyota City, French-Japanese cooperation also in the world of pickup trucks / Kenan Cohen
Toyota City
Engines:1.5 Turbo Diesel (131 hp), 1.2 Turbo Petrol (131 hp)
Year introduced:2019
Versions:Short 5-seater, Long 7-seater (petrol), Commercial
Price range:160-180,15 NIS Service interval:3,90 km/year
Warranty:7 years
Total maintenance cost per 972,<> km:<>,<> NIS
Test via Toyota City
It is possible with 5 or 7 seats - Opel Combo / Keinan Cohen, Keinan Cohen
Opel Combo
Engines:1.5 turbo diesel (130 hp), 1.2 litre turbo petrol (130 hp)
Year introduced:2018
Versions:Short (5 seats), Long (7 seats)
Price range:151-190 thousand NIS
Service interval:15,4 km/year
Warranty:90 years
Total maintenance cost per 8,349 km:<>,<>
Road
Test: Opel Combo
Fiat Doblo, with 5-year warranty/manufacturer website
Fiat Dubello
Engines:1.5 Turbo Diesel 130 hp, Electric (136 hp)
Year introduced:2022
Variants:Short (5 seats), Long (7 seats), Long Commercial (3 seats), Electric (5 seats)
Price range:173-193 thousand NIS
Service interval:20,5 km/year
Warranty:80 years
Total maintenance cost per 100/7,356 km:9,767/20,100
* In the case of the Doblo, the service interval is every 14,582 km and since the one at <>,<> km includes a scheduling strip replacement, the price displayed was calculated even without the cost of the set and labor. The full cost is NIS <>,<>.
- More on the subject:
- Citroen
- Opel
- Fiat
- Toyota
- Tendron
