This is the first time that an electric vehicle has won the title and follows the International Car of the Year 2011 accolade, which was awarded by different judges to Renault’s alliance partner Nissan for the electrically powered Nissan Leaf. 

The Kangoo Z.E. was awarded a top score of 104 points out of a possible 168, beating the latest Iveco Daily, revised Fiat Ducato and revised Volkswagen Caddy in the process. The award was made at the International Trailer Show, a heavy commercial vehicle event, staged at Kortrijk in Belgium in November.

According to Dutch judge and jury chairman Pieter Wieman: ‘With the Kangoo Van Z.E. Renault brings the electric van within the reach of the normal European van user, thereby delivering a major contribution to environmental sustainability, one of the most important issues of the transport of goods by road nowadays.’

Accepting the award for Renault was Jean-Marie Hurtiger, director of the light CV division, who commented: ‘This prize rewards the work of the people at Renault who have worked for several years on the Kangoo Van Z.E.’

The award judges are: Pieter Wieman (the Netherlands), Dr Helmut Tober (Austria), Jef Van de Keybus (Belgium), Krassimir Kirilov (Bulgaria), Matko Jovic (Croatia), Carsten Teiner Svendsen (Denmark), Heikki Laurell (Finland), Bruno Téreygeol (France), Johannes Reichel (Germany), Andy Salter (Great Britain), Emmanuel Agrimanakis (Greece), Sandor Boncser (Hungary), Jarlath Sweeney, (Ireland), Raffaele Bonmezzadri (Italy), Torbjörn Eriksen (Norway), Aleksander Glus (Poland), Fausto Monteiro Grilo (Portugal), Marilena Matei (Romania), Theodor Lapshin (Russia), Stanislav Cvengros (Slovakia and the Czech Republic), F. Javier Pedroche (Spain), Anders Karlsson (Sweden), Markus Huber (Switzerland) and Can Alptekin (Turkey).