Volkswagen and Citroen big winners at the Business Van of the Year Awards 2019
For the second year running Volkswagen was once again the big winner at the 2019 Business Van of the Year Awards, scooping Best Crew Van and Best Large Trades Van categories.
However, the van manufacturer didn’t have its own way, with Citroen joining the party with two award wins – with variants of the Citroen Berlingo picking up the award for Best Green Van and Best Small Trades Van.
Business Van of the Year Awards is run by Business Vans, a van user news and information website, and is supported by VansDirect, a leading supplier of lease vans and some of best van experts in the industry SME sector.
Volkswagen's Transporter Kombi has developed a bit of a cult status among private owners thanks to successive generations of the camper conversions. But for the business user, it is a very practical and spacious load-carrier, available in multiple sizes as a van, and comes in a variety of alternate body styles.
Along with the Peugeot Expert Blue S&S 1000kg professional, the Volkswagen Transporter T28 low roof 2.0 TDI scooped the award for Best Large Trades Van for making light work of shifting away from the traffic lights up to legal urban speeds aided and abetted by a comparatively sylph-like gross weight of just 2,800kgs. And, it may be compact but with 5,800-litre load volume even in this low roof version it has many satisfied business users.
The full winners’ list of the Business Van of the Year Awards is as follows:
Citroen’s Berlingo Vans have been building on their solid reputation for reliability and with an armful of innovations available, especially in the with New Berlingo Blue Van, such as surround rear vision technology, colour Head-Up Display, active safety brake, Blind Spot Monitoring system, etc., it is beginning to appeal to a wider business user.
And, with the swing towards electric delivery vans, the Berlingo Electric is also an attractive proposition. Citroen has backed up the van with a range of services to Citroën business and LCV customers.
Business customers have access to Citroën’s online service booking and service plans, access to SMR and menu pricing as well as to a range of finance packages. Also, included are 40 Business Centres and 75 Business Active Centres that offers a dedicated local business executive trained to offer business to business support.
Chris Wright, Managing Editor at Business Vans, said: “It’s long been heralded that ‘it’s the year of the van’ and these awards have demonstrated the huge range of vans available for business users. As demand increases so has the choice on offer, the competition in the van sector is certainly ratcheting up.
“The awards are a celebration of the best in class from manufacturers, leasing companies and service suppliers. Volkswagen continues the lead the way but the other key manufacturers like Citroen, Mercedes, Toyota, Peugeot and Fiat are investing in the latest technologies and refinements that make their vans safer, more fuel efficient and friendlier to the environmental.”
The awards are judged independently by specialists in the SME business van sector. The chair of the judging panel was Paul Hollick of TMC.
Full details of the Business Van of the Year Awards 2019 can be found at: https://www.businessmotoring.co.uk/business-motoring-awards-2019/