The Bedford CF was the highly successful medium sized van produced at Luton from 1969 to 1987 and was the main competitor to the Ford Transit. Production of the CF was moved from the main car plant to a separate plant close to the main plant and was linked by a bridge so components made in the car plant used in the CF could be easily transferred. The Bedford CF was updated in 1980 and again in 1984 as the CF2 but it was by then a 14 year old design and sales were beginning to fall sharply. The replacement CG did not get further than the Design mock-up stage and later a joint development with Leyland to develop a replacement for the CF and Sherpa van came to nothing, largely due to interference by the then wretched Thatcher government and its amoeba brained Minister of Transport - Channing.

In 1986 the Bedford van factory was reorganised as a joint venture with Japanese manufacturer Isuzu, a company in which GM held a 33% share at the time. The resulting company was named IBC Vehicles (Isuzu Bedford Company Limited). It would produce the CF2 for a short time along with a planned stop gap replacement – the Bedford Midi, a variation of the Isuzu WFR panel van. Once CF production ceased the spare production capacity was taken up by another joint venture, this time with Suzuki – in which GM held a small stake, to produce the Bedford Rascal & Suzuki Carry microvans. In 1992 the factory produced a European version of the Isuzu Wizard / MU – the Vauxhall Frontera – which was engineered at Luton to use Vauxhall petrol engines. In 1998 GM purchased the Isuzu share of IBC and control was returned to Vauxhall Motors Ltd, in 2012 IBC was disolved and the plant designated GMM Luton.