RENAULT is aiming to put the driver first with the debut models of a new van range designed to put the French manufacturer back on top of the European light commercial vehicle market. The Transit-sized Master and Fiesta-sized Kangoo are the first fruits of a van programme which, in collaboration with General Motors Europe, will ultimately rejuvenate Renault's entire light commercial vehicle range.

The Master's bigger brother will be built at Vauxhall's IBC vehicle plant at Luton, while the Master will be rebadged as a Vauxhall and sold in the UK alongside the Renault offering early next year. While the Master is a traditional box-on-wheels design, the Kangoo is a pretty bold styling statement which could well appeal to trendy small businesses looking for a practical runabout with a bit of flair.

Renault has set great store by providing the drivers of these vehicles with a comprehensive choice of optional extras - including air conditioning and dual airbags - as driver is now perceived as having a greater say in the buying decision than previously. Both newcomers are long overdue given the 17-year-old technology upon which their predecessors were based, but in a reinvigorated LCV market destined to go ballistic as all the major manufacturers pile back into it with a vengeance, the replacements will have to be good to hack it into the next century.