A NEW camper van conversion is getting it claws into the Scottish market, and it’s built right here.

The Wildcat range from Allied Vehicles has just gone on sale in time for the summer holidays and the first 12 to be made are available to hire.

Based on the Citroen Relay van, the Wildcat is a bespoke camper van and built from the ground up at Allied Vehicle’s Possilpark factory in Glasgow.

The company already has years of experience in converting vehicles for the taxi trade and making wheelchair accessible vehicles.

Rebecca Bridges, of Allied Vehicles, said: “The Wildcat can be driven on an ordinary car licence, and all of the vehicles in the rental fleet from us are pet-friendly.”

Looking to the future already, Rebecca added: “The camper is destined for the Scottish rental market at the moment, but we’ll build a further 30 this year.

“I think, with the team we’ve got, we’ll be able to develop it even further and grow this side of the business to become one of the players in the market, as we have with wheelchair accessible vehicles. We’ve got some of the best minds in the industry at Allied, so I’m really excited.”

One of those great minds is David Facenna, corporate culture director at Allied Vehicles and the design brains behind the Wildcat.

He came up with the plan for this camper while he was stuck at home in the pandemic. Facenna said: “I heard so many horror stories about people buying camper vans that I knew we could do much better.

“We’ve got everything in-house to produce this vehicle. The key part for me when doing the research on other camper convertors was the lack of any backup service. Our unique selling point is that we can fix anything should it go wrong within 48 hours.

“All of our campers also come with the full Citroen Roadside Assistance cover as none of our rental vans will ever be older than 12 months. That gives our customers amazing peace of mind to go and explore.”

All of the Wildcats are finished to a very high standard and come with all of the comfort you need to enjoy your holiday. They have a fully fitted kitchen and plenty of space to make longer trips just as easy.

The Citroen Relay uses a 2.0-litre turbodiesel engine in the Wildcat for these first campers but Allied Vehicles is working on a fully electric version based on the e-Relay. This EV model will have a driving range of up to 139 miles on single charge.

With its main factory in Glasgow and a workforce of more than 560 people, ­family-owned Allied Vehicles has all of the know-how to get the best from the e-Relay and its existing diesel-powered camper van.

All of its vehicles are built to meet the highest standards, and the fit and finish of the Wildcat reflects this.