The list of eligible vans for the title of Continental Irish Van of the Year 2013 has been announced by the Irish Motoring Writers’ Association (IMWA ) Van of the Year jury. The winner of the 2013 overall Irish Van of the Year title will be announced at an awards ceremony in the Convention Centre Dublin, on Thursday November 22.
The eligible vans for this year’s award are in alphabetical order: Citroen Berlingo Airdream, Citroen Dispatch, Ford Custom, Nissan NV400, Opel Combo, Renault Kangoo ZE, Peugeot Partner, and Peugeot Export.
The Continental Irish Van of the Year jury is composed of nine specialist members of the IMWA including the Advertiser motoring correspondent Padraic Deane. In order to find the winning van and category winners each year, the jury members assess each van that is launched on the Irish market, grading each vehicle on such attributes as: value for money, versatility, build quality, and performance.
Michael Moroney, chairman of the IMWA van jury and Galway native told the Advertiser: “In spite of the depressed van market in Ireland, this year’s crop of entrants for the Continental Irish Van of the Year title are an excellent selection of vehicles from the sector and it is a wide open competition for the title.”
“In the tough circumstances of the current commercial vehicle market in Ireland, the overall guidance and reviews of the IMWA van jury are a great help to customers who are looking to renew their van or indeed their company fleet”, Paddy Murphy of Continental Tyres told the Advertiser.
In addition to the prestigious main award, the two special Continental Irish Van of the Year 2013 category award winners including Car-Derived Van and SUV Commercial (including pick-ups and SUVs ), will be announced in early January 2013.
Last year’s Continental Irish Van of the Year title was awarded to the Volkswagen Crafter. The Car-Derived Van and Commercial SUV category awards went to the Fiat Punto Van and the VW Amarok Pick-Up respectively.
