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Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes SLS AMG wins Golden Classic Steering Wheel award

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Gullwing

The gorgeous and incredibly desirable Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG has just been won the inaugural Golden Classic Steering Wheel award, presented by German publication Auto Bild Klassik.

Attracting over 30% of the vote the SLS AMG was judged a “Classic of the future” in the Sports coupés and convertibles category. The new Gullwing finished ahead of eight other competitors, including the Audi R8 Spyder, Ferrari 458 Italia, Maserati GranCabrio, McLaren MP4-12C and Porsche 918 Spyder.

In other SLS AMG news the GT3 racing version will be making its racing debut in a VLN event at the Nürburgring Nordschleife this weekend.

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MINI

MINI’s iconic hot-hatch cleans up

MINI Cooper S (R56)

The MINI Cooper S has just been named best hot-hatch in the annual What Car? awards. This is the third year on the trot the MCS has claimed the award, with the British publication stating, “just as brilliant as ever, the Mini is still the headline act in this category”.

That in itself, though, is not such a big surprise as the MINI has been widely praised since BMW relaunched the brand in 2001. However, what might raise a few eyebrows is the news that CleanGreenCars.co.uk has named MINI the cleanest car manufacturer. In addition to this, the Cooper S was previously named Green Sports Car by What Car? in their 2008 awards.

CleanGreenCars reached their conclusion by calculating the average CO2 emissions of each car sold during 2008 and compared the data against 2007 figures. The result being the average CO2 emissions from the MINI fleet is 137.24g/km, an improvement of almost 7%. MINI is marginally ahead of Fiat, with 137.32g/km, and next best, Peugeot with 140.16g/km.

With more frugal diesel models to be added to their range, MINI can expect their average emissions figure to lower even further.

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Audi

Audi Q5 claims gold before reaching starting blocks

Audi Q5

Earlier this year the Audi Q5 was revealed to the motoring world in China. Released prior to the Games, Audi was keen to get plenty of images in front of the soon to be iconic Olympic venues. Now, following that debut, the Q5 has won the “Golden Steering Wheel” award in the SUV class. A nice gig for Audi to be collecting awards for the Q5 even before its market release.

Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG, was in Berlin to collect the gong. “This is a tremendous success for both the new Q5 and the Audi brand. To me, it is also an acknowledgment of the great performance of our highly motivated and committed team,” said Stadler during the awards ceremony. “Our Golden Steering Wheel also proves to me that this car is apparently not only close to my heart; it also convinced the jury.”

Audi have won more “Golden Steering Wheel” awards than any other manufacturer after picking up their first in 1975.

Also of interest, the Q5 dealer reveal took place in Spain last week, with around 14 dealers from Australia making the trip.

Perhaps the most successful step for the Q5 is proving to the world that a small-mid size SUV can actually look half decent. The Q5 is definitely a more cohesive design execution than BMW’s awkward X3, and the Audi also looks neater than it’s Tiguan stablemate form Volkswagen.