The BMW 1 Series Coupé and the Volkswagen Golf VI have both joined Audi’s Q5 in the Golden Steering Wheel winners circle. The Golden Steering Wheel Awards, run by German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, were founded by Axel Springer 33 years ago and have been awarded every year since.
An expert jury from Bild am Sonntag honoured the best new releases of the year, among them the 6th generation Golf, for a “superior win in the compact class”.
“The win of four categories confirms that the whole Group took the right course. We offer an incomparable spectrum of models and an enormous variation of design and technology. We make the perfect cars for everyone”, says Prof. Martin Winterkorn, chairman of the Board of management at Volkswagen AG.
BMW’s result was based on a readers’ poll in which the 1 Series Coupé two-door received 26.4 per cent of a total of the 220,000 plus votes cast. Australian buyers have also been enamoured with the two-door BMW coupé since it went on sale in May, with over 500 customer deliveries.
A BMW TV commercial likewise won first prize in the 2008 Golden Steering Wheel. The ad, for the Night Vision system on the 5 Series, can be seen below in a clip from BMW-web.tv, which also includes a brief interview with Ian Robertson, Board Member for Sales and Marketing.