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BusinessCar Awards 2013 - Manufacturer of the Year: BMW
Date: 22 January 2013
It's the hat-trick for BMW as the premium German brand snares its third consecutive BusinessCar Manufacturer of the Year title after another 12 months that saw exciting new models and more reductions in emissions, as well as a glimpse of what is to come in the near future.
Obviously, the launch of the new 3-series saloon and Touring, BMW's fleet favourite and the new Business Car of the Year, was the major news for 2013, but there was plenty else going on in terms of modification and improvement to the firm's model range during last year to make it even more appealing to corporate customers.
Various additions to the engine line-ups on models such as the 1-series included the 116d, taking BMW below 100g/km of CO2 emissions for the first time, and all-wheel drive technology is now branching out from the firm's off-roaders to include cars such as the 3-series.
The 6-series Gran Coupe added some class and desirability to BMW's range for those capable of spending upwards of £60,000 on a car, while the baby off-roader X1 was subtly facelifted during the past 12 months and a trio of performance-orientated hybrid cars were launched, with petrol-electric Active Hybrid versions of the 3-, 5- and 7-series all arriving, although they are expensive and designed to compete with high-power petrol models rather than offering ultimate efficiency.
The new additions join other corporate-focused models such as the sub-120g/km 520d Efficient Dynamics saloon in illustrating clearly that the readers of BusinessCar have again favoured BMW as the brand that does the most to help their fleet run as cleanly, cost-effectively and with as much user satisfaction as possible.
The company has also spent time in the past 12 months talking about how it will be addressing the future. BMW's i brand will introduce the firm's moves into plug-in electric vehicles this year, as the manufacturer seeks to take its first step away from internal combustion engine power, and there will also be a production version of the Concept Active Tourer show car that previewed a front-wheel drive Mini-MPV model.
But it's the current breadth, quality, efficiency and performance of the range that has seen the firm maintain its hold on the BusinessCar Manufacturer of the Year title. It's going to take some impressive strides by a rival to wrestle BMW's grip from the trophy in 2014.
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