BMW Group triumphs at What Car? Awards

The MINI Cooper S won the [I]What Car?[/I] hot hatch award for the third year running. MINI was also named the cleanest car manufacturer of 2008 by [I]CleanGreenCars.com[/I]

BMW's most popular model range has been awarded the "Best Compact Executive" car title by [I]What Car?[/I] magazine for the fourth year in a row. And in a first for the judges from the UK's self-styled new car buyers' bible, the BMW 3 Series won each of [I]What Car?'s[/I] respective sub categories, meaning the short list of three cars were all the same make and model. The BMW 320d ES was the actual model that came out on top.

The BMW 3 Series was voted overall Car of the Year in 2006 by [I]What Car?[/I]. This latest honour is in addition to a string of awards for the 3 Series in 2008 that includes "Best Large Family Vehicle" from the Environmental Transport Association, "Best Compact Executive" at Auto Express' Used Car Honours and "Best Small Premium Car" from [I]Business Car[/I].

Klaus Kibsgaard, Managing Director of BMW UK said: "It's always a pleasure to be recognized for your endeavours. The BMW 3 Series is the lifeblood of our model portfolio and this prestigious award adds further weight to its class-leading position in the eyes of buyers."

The [I]What Car?[/I] honour follows the announcement that BMW won the "Engine Development Team of the Year" at the [I]Automotive Testing International Awards 2008[/I]. The Awards were established in 2006 to acknowledge the efforts made by companies and engineers to improve reliability, quality and usability in vehicles, and ensure that outstanding achievements were recognized by the whole of the automotive development community. The work carried out on the EfficientDynamics programme was a key factor in the decision process for this accolade.

For the third year in a row, the MINI Cooper S has been named the best hot hatch on sale in the UK at the [I]What Car?[/I] awards ceremony.

An unbeatable mix of brilliant performance, low running costs and high residual values are just some of the reasons for the MINI once again taking the highly-coveted gong.

In July last year, the MINI Cooper S won the "Green Sports Car" category in [I]What Car?'s[/I] Green Awards 2008. The accolade was recognition of MINI's commitment to manufacturing frugal and fast premium small cars, with minimal cost to the environment.

The efficiency gains and C02 emission reduction provided by the standard fitment of MINIMALISM technology, which includes Auto Start/Stop, Brake Energy Regeneration and Shift Point Display, helped secure another title for the MINI Cooper S ahead of more recently launched competitor models.

Recognition of the strides MINI is making in reducing C02 emissions across its model range was underlined in research findings published earlier this week by [I]CleanGreenCars.com[/I]

The website released figures which detailed calculations of the average C02 emissions of each car sold during 2008, therefore reflecting improvements in the emissions of the model ranges on offer, as well as the buying pattern of the market.

The cleanest car manufacturer of 2008 was found to be MINI at 137.24 g/km, while the industry average C02 emission figure stood at 158.7 g/km.

MINI's average C02 output improved by an impressive 6.8 percent in 2008. Further improvements will be achieved across the range when the new MINI Convertible is launched on 28 March 2009, meaning C02 emissions from a MINI will be as low as 104 g/km for the MINI Cooper D and no higher than 153 g/km for the sporty MINI Cooper S Convertible.

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Credits: JRC