The 2026 Nissan Van Range: Everything You Need to Know
Japanese brands might be commonplace in the passenger car market, but only Nissan has offered a full house of small, medium and large vans in the UK for almost 25 years.
In that time, Nissan has firmly established itself among the commercial vehicle elite, its line-up – closely related to models offered by sister company, Renault – proving popular for their practical nature and impressive aftersales network.
It has even been a pioneer of the industry in years gone by, most notably the Nissan e-NV200, which was one of the first electric vans to hit the roads in the UK.
Setting a trend towards the plus-30 vans now available in the UK with electric power, the marque itself now offers two electric vans – the Nissan Townstar small van and the Nissan Interstar large van.
The Nissan Primastar medium van completes Nissan’s triumvirate in the van industry, so let’s take a closer look to see how its models stack up against the competition.
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Nissan Townstar
The arrival of the Nissan Townstar in 2021 would see it replace the NV200, e-NV200 and NV250 to take on the role as the manufacturer’s small van offering as a rival the likes of the Citroen Berlingo and the Volkswagen Caddy Cargo.
Like the NV250 before it, the Townstar borrows its mechanicals from the Renault Kangoo, though compared to that model, this one gets its own visual identity of a chiselled face inspired by other models in Nissan’s range.
What sets the Townstar apart from other models in the small van space is it doesn’t come with the option of a turbodiesel engine.
Instead, it is offered with a 1.3-litre turbocharged petrol engine generating 128bhp and 240Nm of torque, putting it on a par with diesel rivals while returning up to 44mpg.
There is also an electric version – known as the Nissan Townstar EV – that makes use of a 45kWh battery generating 121bhp and returns up to 178-miles of range (WLTP combined).
With external dimensions that make it slightly longer and taller than a Berlingo, the Townstar offers a class-lead rivalling 3.3-cubic metres of load space in L1 specification, while the larger L2 specification – which places its extended length in the wheelbase – has 4.3-cubic metres of space.
Maximum payloads differ depending on the model, but the petrol Townstar will handle between 689kg and 762kg, while the Townstar EV can hold 486kg.
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Nissan Primastar
Though Nissan blazed a trail by offering an electric van long before its rivals, its current medium van offering, the Nissan Primastar – formerly known as NV300 – is offered only as a diesel.
Closely related to the Renault Trafic, the Primastar inherits all the positive traits of its popular French sister model, namely its full house of body styles and its generous payload figures.
The Primastar is available in four body styles – L1/H1, L2/H1, L1/H2 and L2/H2 – plus a six-seater crew van.
This is significant as it makes the Primastar one of the few medium vans on sale that comes with the option of an extended height.
At more than five-metres in length for the standard L1/H1, the Primastar in base guise offers 5.8-cubic metres, which compares favourably to the similarly sized Ford Transit Custom. This rises to 6.8-cubic metres as an L2.
Choosing the extended height H2, however, increases load space to 7.8-cubic metres (L1) and 8.9-cubic metres (L2).
In terms of payload capacity, the Nissan Primastar’s most generous body style combination is the L2/H1, which can haul a maximum of 1251kg. However, all body sizes in the Primastar range have the potential to carry more than one-tonne depending on the trim and engine.
Under the bonnet, the Primastar compensates for its lack of an electric version by offering four power outputs of its 2.0-litre dCi turbodiesel engine.
This includes a base 110bhp version, though the more powerful 130bhp model returns over 42mpg – which is ranked as the most economical turbodiesel van in the medium van class. It is also available with 150bhp and 170bhp outputs.
Significantly, though the Primastar is based on the running gear as the Trafic and is constructed alongside it in France, Nissan continues to offer a more generous warranty of five-years/100,000-miles. By contrast, the Trafic comes with a three-year/100,000-mile warranty.
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Nissan Interstar
The Nissan Interstar sits at the head of the manufacturer’s commercial vehicle range and is widely considered to be a class-leader in the large van segment.
Once again, the Interstar has close relations with a French sibling – in this case the Renault Master – and this only works to its significant advantage.
Indeed, the launch of the new generation Master at the start of 2025 meant the arrival of a new Interstar around the same time.
With similar specifications to the Master, the Interstar therefore presents some compelling figures compared with rivals like the Ford Transit and Volkswagen Crafter.
The most important development is the Master/Interstar’s significant weight loss programme, which is designed to improve efficiency and economy, while allowing it to devote more weight to payload capacity.
As such, though the Interstar isn’t one of the biggest large vans on the market, certain models can carry upwards of 1934kg of payload.
The Interstar is available with three body sizes – L2/H2, L3/H2 and L3/H3 – while it can be had with either turbodiesel or electric powertrains. It can also be converted into a crew van, dropside, tipper, Luton Box and a chassis cab.
By dropping its kerbweight, the Interstar is particularly efficient in electric trim despite having a smaller battery than models like the Vauxhall Movano. The 87kWh battery only generates 141bhp but returns 285-miles of range.
In diesel trim, the Interstar offers 130bhp, 150bhp and 170bhp outputs of its Renault-sourced 2.0-litre dCi engine.
What sets the Interstar apart from its Renault sister is a different front-end design treatment and the application of its five-year/100,000-mile warranty.
- Nissan Interstar: Load Sizing Guide
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