The results of the twentieth Caravan and Motorhome Club Motorhome Design Awards were announced at the Birmingham NEC on Friday 22 February 2019. Judging took place during the Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show the week before, with 99 vehicles entered. 

Motorhomes and campervans were judged by an independent panel of judges who assessed criteria including electrics and safety, comfort, kitchen/washrooms, air conditioning, heating and ventilation systems, technical aspects and stowage.

Although the judges did not drive the vehicles, the scoring of the vehicles still evaluated driving elements such as seating positions, handbrake positions, visibility, safety whilst travelling in habitation area, front seat comfort and driver ergonomics.

There were 19 entries in the Dealer Special categories. The definition of a dealer special is that the motorhome must be badged and named differently to the manufacturer’s model. These models are only available to purchase new through the dealer, or network of dealers, and are not available from the manufacturer direct.

Grenville Chamberlain, Chairman of the Caravan and Motorhome Club, who announced the results commented, “This competition goes from strength to strength and continues to provide an invaluable source of data for consumers looking to purchase a motorhome or campervan. 99 vehicles were evaluated during the Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show by our panel of independent judges. Huge congratulations to all the worthy winners.”

The categories and winners were as follows:

Micro motorhomes

• Winner Wellhouse Leisure Citroën Martello
• 2nd Lunar Campers Toyota Proace Lerina
• 3rd Hillside Leisure Dalbury S Tekna

Campervan under £45k

• Winner Hillside Leisure Birchover Classic
• 2nd Wellhouse Leisure Hyundai i-Camperd Volksleisure Zermatt
• 3rd Volksleisure Zermatt

Campervan over £45k

• Winner Volkswagen California Ocean 2.0-TDI 199 PS DSG
• 2nd Wellhouse Leisure Ford Trento
• 3rd Rolling Homes Volkswagen Transporter Columbus

Van conversions under £45k

• Winner Globecar Globescout Plus
• 2nd Benimar Fiat Benivan 120
• 3rd Auto-Trail Tribute 680

Van conversions £45k – £55k

• Winner Wellhouse Leisure Ford Transit Custom Tellaro LUX-XL
• 2nd Auto-Trail V-Line 635 SE
• 2nd WildAx Motorhomes Aurora Leisure XL

Van conversions over £55k

• Winner Adria Twin Supreme 600SPB
• 2nd IH Motorhomes Volkswagen Crafter IH680CRD
• 3rd Auto-Sleeper Peugeot Symbol Plus
• Joint 3rd WildAx Motorhomes Elara

Coachbuilts under £45k

• Winner Elddis Accordo 105
• 2nd Compass Avantgarde 115
• 3rd Benimar Fiat Primero 331

Coachbuilts £45k – £49k

• Winner Bailey Alliance 59-2
• 2nd Swift Escape Compact C205
• 3rd Auto-Trail Tribute 615

Coachbuilts £49k – £55k

• Winner Elddis Encore 255
• 2nd Swift Escape 684
• 3rd Benimar Ford Tessoro 486

Coachbuilts £55k – £65k

• Winner Bailey Autograph 79-4T
• 2nd Auto-Sleeper Peugeot Nuevo ES
• 3rd Auto-Trail Tracker EB

Coachbuilts over £66k

• Winner Swift Kon-Tiki 675 High-Line Cab
• 2nd Auto-Sleeper Mercedes-Benz Burford Duo
• 3rd Auto-Trail Frontier Delaware HB

A-class under £90k

• Winner Carthago compactline I138DB
• 2nd Roller Team Pegaso 590
• 3rd Malibu I 500 QB Touring

A-class over £90k

• Winner Frankia I840 Plus Lounge
• 2nd Carthago liner-for-two I31 (Fiat)
• 3rd Hymer B MCI 580

Dealer special: two-berth coachbuilt

• Winner Richard Baldwin Motorhomes Masters Collection Elddis Donatello
• 2nd Richard Baldwin Motorhomes Masters Collection Elddis Picasso
• 3rd Vehicles for Leisure Elddis Prestige 175

Dealer special: three-berth coachbuilt

• Winner Richard Baldwin Motorhomes Masters Collection Elddis Rubens
• 2nd Richard Baldwin Motorhomes Masters Collection Elddis Raphael
• 3rd Vehicles for Leisure Elddis Prestige 155

Dealer special: over four-berth coachbuilt

• Winner Lowdhams Leisureworld Swift Bessacarr HI-STYLE 596
• 2nd Vehicles for Leisure Elddis Prestige 196
• 3rd Lowdhams Leisureworld Swift Freestyle 694

Dealer special: any campervan

• Winner Richard Baldwin Motorhomes Masters Collection, Hillside Leisure Volkswagen Caravaggio
• 2nd Furrows Ford of Shrewsbury, Rolling Homes Ford Explorer Sport
• 3rd Lowdhams Leisureworld, Wellhouse Leisure Ford Custom Summit SE

Bailey of Bristol Managing Director Nick Howard said: “Naturally we are delighted that both the new Alliance and Autograph ranges have received this award recognition, and it is testimony to the amount of work that has gone into the development of our 2019 motorhome portfolio”.

Over the past 24 months our focus has been on creating affordable innovative products and these latest accolades are an indication that we are achieving this goal.”

Dealer, Richard Baldwin (RBM) also scooped three out of the four dealer awards, with Managing Partner Gary Morgan saying that he believed that the dealerships constant efforts to stay ahead of the rest, by bringing in new, exclusive and exciting additional equipment to their range, had finally manged to help them reap their rewards in awards.

Over the years RBM has uniquely introduced equipment such as ESP (electronic stabilising program) and the DPS 360, a unique four-camera, 360° CCTV recording, manoeuvring and alarm system, plus many others things too. This year it introduced heated driver and passenger seats, and it is these innovations that Gary believes finally caught the judges attention.

This year the the awards were sponsored by Avtex, sat-navs that are exclusively endorsed by the club and specifically for use with caravans and motorhomes. 

Pictures courtesy of the Caravan and Motorhome Club