What Van? honoured the best commercial vehicles at its annual awards with a three-way tie for the top title.
What Van? held its prestigious 2017 awards this week with the light commercial vehicle of the year award and medium van of year title a three-way tie between three outstanding new vans – the Citroen Dispatch, Peugeot Expert and Toyota Proace.
Distinguished by their respective brands' styling cues, under the skin they are essentially the same product so all were considered equally deserving of the prize.
The all-new Nissan Navara was named pick-up of the year, adding the title to the coveted International Pick-Up Award 2016. What Van? judges praised the Navara for setting a new segment benchmark for quality, refinement and technology while still offering the pulling power and payload expected of a pick-up.
The Renault Trafic made it three years in a row at the What Van? Awards, having previously won the title of best medium van for 2015 and 2016, by picking up the editor's choice award this year with editor James Dallas praising its innovation in the LCV sector and its clever design.
Mitsubishi's Outlander PHEV 4Work won the green award. PHEV stands for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle and the Outlander is the only light commercial on sale in the UK to have this low-emission, environment-friendly technology factory-fitted.
Vauxhall has picked up another award to round off a highly-successful year, with the Vivaro named used van of the year for the second year running for again proving to be the most thought-out and user-friendly medium van on the market, combiing stylish appeal and best-in-class Bi-Turbo engines.
The Dacia Duster Commercial 4x4 won best 4x4 van for the second consecutive year. Based on the popular Dacia Duster compact sport utility vehicle, it was praised for its off-road capability, driving style and value.
Fiat Professional did a double with the Doblo Cargo's handling and build quality helping to again win light van of the year and the latest Fiorino Cargo taking the small van of the year title.
The Iveco Daily made it a straight hat-trick of wins in the large van category. The Daily's position as the outstanding heavy van in the marketplace has been cemented by its eight-speed Himatic transmission that is now available with both 2.3 and 3.0-litre engines.
Mercedes-Benz was again honoured with the safety award for a record-breaking seventh consecutive time. Since the safety category was added to the What Van? Awards, Mercedes-Benz has received the honour each year.
This year there was a special mention for the blind spot assist system which uses two near-range radar sensors in the rear bumper and covers the area to the left and right in adjacent lanes.
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