PSA’s trio of new light vans, the Citroen Berlingo, Peugeot Partner and Vauxhall Combo, have jointly won the prestigious What Van? Light Commercial Vehicle of the Year Award for 2019.
PSA Peugeot-Citroen acquired Opel/Vauxhall, which was previously owned by General Motors, in 2017 and the three models are the first to be launched by the expanded group.
What Van? editor James Dallas said: “PSA has raised the bar in terms of driveability and load-carrying practicality.”
Two wheelbase lengths are available in all three vans, payloads go up to a class-leading 1050kg, while load volume extends to 4.4m3.
An outstanding 1.5-litre BlueHDi Euro 6.2-compliant diesel engine is available with outputs of 75hp, 100hp and 130hp and will be joined in 2019 by a 1.2-litre Puretech petrol engine with 110hp and 130hp outputs. The higher-powered petrol engine, like the 130hp diesel, will get the slick new EAT8 auto transmission.
The brands collected their trophies for the vans, which also shared the Light Van of the Year prize, at the exclusive What Van? Awards luncheon held in partnership with Nextbase, Leaseplan, FORS, Lightfoot, Ensto, ODO, Sortimo, Trucksmith, Vanastec, ROSPA and Vehicle Accessory Solutions at The Brewery in central London on 13 December.
Other highlights of the event included the new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter taking the Large Van of the Year award, the revised Ford Transit Custom winning the Medium Van prize, market newcomer the Mitsubishi Shogun Commercial scooping the 4×4 category, and the Iveco Daily Blue Power range capturing the Editor’s Choice award.
Steve Bridge, Mercedes-Benz’ resourceful and innovative head of vans, was welcomed into the Hall of fame.
New awards were also introduced to recognise the Insurance Company of the Year, Leasing Company of the Year and Rental Company of the Year.
Dallas said: “This year the pantheon of awards has once more expanded as we have taken on more categories to recognise the outstanding contributions of the people and organisations that keep the sector moving forward.
Head here to see the full list of Awards winners for 2019.