The new Volkswagen up! has been named as the ‘Best City Car’ and ‘Car of the Year’ for 2012 in the What Car? awards.
Volkswagen is now the most successful car maker at the What Car? awards since their launch in 1978, after winning the top 'Car of the Year' honour for the sixth time. This year's awards where held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, and other highlights for Volkswagen included a win for the brand as a whole in the Safety Award category, and the Golf winning the top prize in the Small Family Car category for the fourth consecutive year and the sixth time overall.
Commenting on the up!'s win, the Editor of What Car? magazine Chas Hallet said:
"The Volkswagen up! sets new standards for a car at £10,000. It's a city car that can seat four adults, while offering new levels of refinement, quality and maturity at this price; none of its rivals feels quite so grown-up. Buyers will be looking for even more for their money than ever in 2012, so the up! is a worthy winner of the What Car? Car of the Year."
In addition to taking home the top title, the innovative up! also contributed towards Volkswagen winning the Safety Award. The judges said they were impressed by the City Emergency Braking system on the up! which they described as 'big car' technology in a small city car. This system is based around a set of sensors which scan the road ahead, and can then automatically brake if the car is about to hit something, in order to avoid collisions or mitigate their effects by reducing speed. The City Emergency Braking system is an optional extra for the Volkswagen up! and costs from £225.
The Director of Volkswagen UK Chris Craft commented on the Car of the Year Award:
"We are absolutely delighted with the awards we have received from What Car? this year. The magazine continues to be one of the most thorough and important sources of new car buying information for UK customers and winning the overall Car of the Year accolade gives our new city car, the up!, the best introduction to the UK market that we could have hoped for.
"Our Retailers are excited about the up!, we're excited about the up! and judging by the reaction of the press and public, customers are also very excited. Our new up! offers small car buyers all the high quality, safety and value for money for which Volkswagen is renowned in an unbeatable compact package."
The Volkswagen up! will hit UK showrooms in March, priced from £7,995 RRP on the road, but is already available for pre-order.
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