BMW can look back on a highly successful 2018 yielding an impressive haul of awards and accolades. Over the course of the past year, vehicles from BMW have managed to win over not just automotive journalists and experts from around the world, but also the readers of motoring magazines, market researchers and IT insiders. What’s more, the award winners distinguished themselves in areas ranging from product quality and design to technical innovation, intelligent connectivity and sustainability. BMW picked up two of the world’s most coveted honours in the process, with the title of World Performance Car going to the BMW M5 and the International Engine of the Year award bestowed on the BMW i8 for the fourth year in succession. The string of successes racked up by the super-sporty BMW M models, which topped the podium on several occasions, provided further good news. And the premium carmaker also took home a hat-trick of wins as the most innovative brand in the premium segment.
BMW 5 Series on top once again.
Following on from the triumphs of the previous 12 months, 2018 turned out to be another highly successful year for the BMW 5 Series models, both in Germany and internationally. The awards for the 5 Series included Best Car in the upper mid-size category from German motoring magazine auto motor und sport. In the Auto Trophy – World’s Best Cars awards, the 5 Series again received the most votes in the executive category from readers of Auto Zeitung magazine. In the awards presented by Auto Test magazine, it was the BMW 530d Touring that made the best impression and was ultimately declared the overall winner, while the BMW 520d Touring was judged to offer the best price-performance ratio in the upper mid-size segment. The BMW 5 Series received wide acclaim in the UK, too, where it picked up not one but two coveted UK Car of the Year awards – for Best Executive Car and Best Estate Car. The Sedan and Touring variants were also named Car of the Year by other motoring journals, including What Car?, Company Car Today and Car Express. Meanwhile, the BMW 520d xDrive Touring emerged as the overall winner in the Tow Car Awards presented jointly by What Car?, Practical Caravan and The Camping and Caravanning Club.
Podium finishes for BMW M models.
In 2018, juries far and wide again considered BMW vehicles the sporting benchmark, with models from BMW M GmbH leading the way. The new BMW M5 high-performance sedan proved an instant hit at the World Car Awards, duly earning the title of World Performance Car. The BMW M5 and other BMW M models were a dominant force on winners’ lists in Germany, too. The BMW M5 Competition was crowned Sports Car of the Year by Auto Bild Sportscars magazine in the Sedans/Station Wagons category, while the BMW M2 Competition was awarded the corresponding accolade in the Small/Compact Car category.
In the readers’ poll conducted by sport auto magazine to find the sportiest cars of the year, the Munich-based premium carmaker’s models were voted top in eight different categories. This meant BMW collected more titles than any other manufacturer in this year’s survey. The roll-call of winners were bookended by the BMW M140i (Compact Cars category) and high-performance BMW M5 Sedan (Sedans/Station Wagons over €100,000), with the BMW M240i Coupe (Coupes up to €50,000), BMW M550d xDrive (Diesels), BMW M3 with Competition Package (Sedans/Station Wagons up to €100,000) and BMW M4 Coupe with Competition Package (Coupes up to €100,000) in between. Alongside the M models, the BMW 230i Convertible (Convertibles/Roadsters up to €50,000) and BMW 330i (Sedans/Station Wagons up to €50,000) were also voted best in class.
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SOURCE: BMW Group
