The 2018 season will go down as the time when Swift Group brought all its various brands under the same umbrella.

From now on, all vehicles rolling off the Cottingham production line would have the Swift name prominently displayed – mostly above the front windows in the case of caravans.

With the second phase of its management buyout in progress, bigging up the Swift name made sense, and it also apparently means that Swift is now the largest single-brand leisure vehicle manufacturer in Europe.

The brand consolidation has led to some Swift-owned names being retired (Sterling caravans, for example), but it is testimony to the heritage and success of Sprite that it has survived, albeit as Swift Sprite.

And this entry-level brand is in rude health right now, thanks to a comprehensive revamp for 2018, with a new look inside and out, and a compelling new spec level.

As a result, Sprite bagged our Tourer of the Year gong, for the Major 6, which has fixed bunks at the back next to a rear corner washroom.

Then, in the middle of the season, Swift decided to launch two new Sprite Super models.

These finally brought something that other manufacturers have been offering near the entry-level end of the market for a couple of years, now: eight-foot wide vans.

This all proves that Sprite is firing on all cylinders, providing a route into the pastime for various types of buyer, especially those shopping on a tighter budget.

To see how well our Tourer of the Year works in the metal, we took it for a little jaunt across the South Downs in East Sussex.

You remember how when Sprite was still its own company, you could always recognise one of its vans by the slightly more curved profile, particularly in comparison to the angular vans of the 1980s and 1990s?

Well, in all the time Sprite has been under the auspices of Swift Group, it has never really lost that shape.

The curve is still there, and now, in Sprite’s latest revamp, it has come to the fore, providing a sophisticated edge to a front panel that now has three separate windows – not something you would expect in an entry-level caravan.

The gas bottle locker has also been remoulded for a sleeker look that fits in with this curved profile.

Our test model had been fitted with the £365 optional sunroof, as well as the £495 Diamond Pack that gets you alloy wheels, among other things, so it does perhaps look a fair bit smarter than the standard Sprite Major 6 might look.

But even without those additions, the decals down the side help set off the curve of the front profile.

The rear panel is already fitted out for a bike rack and has exclusive new design light clusters.

And to see other Swift caravans for sale, click here.