Van and Commercial Vehicle Awards 2025: Overall Winner

In a year where new models and updates have swept across commercial vehicle categories, the Renault Master emerges as the standout choice for our overall Van of the Year Award. While each category winner brings notable advancements to the table, the Master surpasses them by setting new benchmarks in productivity, efficiency, safety, and driver comfort — critical factors when spending your working day with the van.

Renault’s decision to engineer an all-new Master, rather than settling for incremental updates as Stellantis has done with the Citroen Relay, Fiat Ducato, Peugeot Boxer and Vauxhall Movano, has delivered a transformative design that optimises almost every aspect of van life.

Every curve and angle — from the steeply raked windscreen to the tapered rear body — has been crafted to reduce air resistance, which helps the large van reduce fuel use by as much as 20% over the previous model. Real-world economy of 40mpg is possible, which means a tangible saving for your business.

That’s not impacted its ability to do what vans need to do. While it may not have quite as many variants as the Ford Transit, Renault has covered most of the large van market with its carefully considered options. That means two body lengths and two body heights, which, despite the sleek design, still manage to carry huge volumes of cargo, with maximum payloads exceeding 1.6 tonnes on some models.

Using that space is easy with the largest sliding side door on the market, rear doors that swing all the way around to the sides of the van, and a convenient step to make life easier for the driver.

The Master continues to shine inside, with a cab featuring a driver-centric ‘S’ shaped dashboard that blends practicality with a touch of style. It’s not the most cutting-edge design, but a large amount of storage — there are 135 litres dotted around the interior — and a 10.0in infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in place makes it a practical space for a driver. Physical controls for the heating, sensibly placed cupholders and USB sockets, and a driver’s armrest for the comfortable seats make it a relaxing place to spend the day, too. 

It’s also a very safe van. New regulations mean every van now gets an array of safety tech, including automatic emergency braking, intelligent speed assistance, driver drowsiness detection and more, but Renault also adds crosswind assist. The result is a van that received a Platinum award from the safety experts at Euro NCAP — the highest accolade.

The new Renault Master might not look like a game changer — it is, after all, a big, boxy van — but it’s well-equipped, economical, vastly spacious, capable of carrying and pulling heavy loads, competitively priced, safe, and makes better use of what it’s got than any of its rivals.

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