BMW Group triumphs at 'What Car?' Awards.

BMW 3 Series retains What Car? Award's 'Best Compact Executive' crown
for the fourth year in a row. MINI Cooper S wins What Car? hot hatch
award for third year running; MINI named cleanest car manufacturer of
2008 by CleanGreenCars.com BMW's most popular model range has been
awarded the 'Best Compact Executive' car title by 'What Car?' 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 only had
itself to compete against to scoop top honours. Variants of the BMW 3
Series won each of What Car?'s 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 Year in 2006 by 'What Car?'. 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 Business Car. Klaus Kibsgaard,
Managing Director of BMW UK, said: "It's always a pleasure to be
recognised 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 'What Car?'
honour follows the announcement that BMW won the 'Engine Development
Team of the Year' at the Automotive Testing Technology International
Awards 2008. 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 recognised 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 annual What Car? 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 What Car?'s 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 CO2 emission reduction provided by 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 CleanGreenCars.com The website released
figures which detailed calculations of the average CO2 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 CO2 emission figure stood
at 158.7g/km. MINI's average CO2 output improved by an impressive 6.8
per cent in 2008. Further improvements will be achieved across the
range when the new MINI Convertible is launched on 28 March 2009,
meaning CO2 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.