There are just three days to vote for the best trucks and commercial vehicles in the region with the Truck and Fleet Awards 2022 set to close the poll at the end of this week, the editorial team has confirmed.
The Truck & Fleet ME Awards is set to take place on Mon 28th February 2022 at the Raffles Dubai.
Categories, such as Heavy Truck of the Year and the increasingly important LCV segment, are open to a public vote which closes at midnight 12 February.
Regional fleets are also being invited to participate in a separate set of nominated categories which they can submit entries for.
The deadline for all awards close at midnight, February 12, 2022. In the heavy category, voters can choose from a stellar list of new trucks including vehicles from Renault Trucks’ upgraded T, C and K ranges – which the French firm said delivered major improvements in terms of driving comfort, on-board comfort, safety and productivity when they debuted last year.
The New TG Range from MAN Truck & Bus also opened for orders in the Middle East last year. According to MAN, the development of the new trucks was based on customer feedback, to “provide them vehicles that meet their operational requirements – for today and for the future.”
Traton stablemate Scania’s much-lauded NTG is also nominated, as is its innovative BEV. Swedish competitor Volvo Trucks FMX and FH are up for votes with UD Truck’s Quester which was tested by T&FME in November.
Mercedes-Benz Trucks has its mighty New Actros in the mix and with two nominations, IVECO is represented by its recently launched S-Way and T-Way trucks.
UD Trucks also leads the increasingly important medium-duty class nominees with the Croner, and there are nods too for the ISUZU F-Series, Mercedes-Benz’ Atego 1726 4×4 and the fuel delivery favourite HINO 500. The HINO 300 has also been placed into the running in the Light Duty category, alongside the Fuso e-Canter and Euro 5 4×4, Hyundai HD78 GT and the ISUZU N-Series.
Thanks to the growth in e-commerce, vans are gaining in popularity in the region and this is reflected in a strong line-up of vehicles including the Iveco Daily, Ford Transit, MB Sprinter, Nissan Urvan, and Renault Master.
Other categories including Bus and Coaches, Tyre Technology Provider of the Year and Bodybuilder of the Year complete the voting line-up.
“I have always been an advocate of making the judging as inclusive and as open as possible and by placing categories such as Heavy Duty Truck of the Year, Medium Duty Truck of the Year, LCV of the Year, Van of the Year up for a vote, we want to reach out to as many people in the region as we can,” he adds.
“I’ve always followed the big industry awards, but have been frustrated that you can’t always look at the winner of the International Truck of the Year and expect we will see the same version here – and in occasional instances it can take years to see a regional launch.
“I believe that by establishing the concept of the Truck and Fleet Awards we can finally begin to start looking forwards and not backwards in the market. By that I don’t just mean that we plan for a life beyond Covid but also how are we as a sector or industry going to ensure that we understand what the best fleet practices are and what the best vehicles are to meet the exploding demands on fleets in the region.”
