TMW - The Brand Of The Year Award goes to......................

BRAND OF THE YEAR - Which brand has improved, given us some class leading, exceptional vehicles this year, or has just shown how great at design or development.

JAGUAR LAND ROVER - A massive investment, a free hand, and some stunning products have put JLR in this category, and it is not over yet.

MAZDA - Same with Mazda, they have completely overhauled the range, given the cars a standardised look, which works perfectly, and has boosted sales and profits worldwide.

PEUGEOT - With the youngest full range in it's entire history, some stunning award winning products, better sales and profits returning, the new Peugeot is working, and about time too.

SEAT - SEAT, owned by VW for a long looonnng time, and yet to make a profit, but that's going to happen sooner rather than later, there is some great looking products, the LEON has given SEAT the massive boost it needs, losses are being cut significantly as sales rise, some of the range is ageing, but that's all being worked on.

VOLVO - The Swedish brand was once famous building bricks on wheels, with safety, now they build some stunning svelte saloons and estates, the class leading new XC-90 is the start of a new future for the Chinese owned brand, the V40 and XC60 are both jewels in the Volvo crown, it may not be the biggest, or the best, but with Volvo, you know exactly what your getting, and that's great, reliable, class leading cars.

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For each of our five nominations, we have seen massive changes in the products, company and the way they do things, so it is a decision that has taken four days of contemplation to decided which should take the award as our 2014 Brand of the Year.

JLR has undoubtedly seen a huge change in everything that do, from social media, experience days, classic cars, new models, new plants, new engines and new platforms, so, since 2008 there has been a totally new way of thinking for the two brands, everything has changed, and in such a very short time, they now enjoy huge profits and triple digit sales increases, all in just six years, and there is more yet to come.

Mazda has also reborn, from re badged Fords to a range of cars that today are the envy of bigger brands, the multi award winning Mazda6 and Mazda3 are the staple products, but the all new Mazda2 which will hit our shores soon, along with the all new Mazda MX-5 (Miata) and refreshed CX-5 will give Mazda a very good range of products, the KODO-Soul of Motion and Skyactive Technology, might just be words to some, but these two statements have a much bigger meaning, and that's a totally new Mazda, one for the now, and not rehashed other brands cars.

Peugeot has been a revelation of late, part of the PSA group, which now comprises Citroen and the DS brands, as well as its self, there has been rumblings abut profits and sales, but Peugeot has the youngest range of products in its entire history, it has multi award winning products, the 208, 308, 108 and 2008 are truly great cars, and the sales of these just keeps growing.

The expansion into other markets, including China, is paying dividends, as well as its new policy of cutting out the dead wood and selling cars that people want, losses at the group are being slashed, in fact there was a small profit recently reported, this will grow, and with more additions to the core products the growth will be swifter than we could have expected.

SEAT, was the brand that the VW Group purchased when they knew they could not get Alfa Romeo from FIAT, the sporty Spanish brand has never made money for VW, as they have not really had a proper direction, that is until recently, with a new designer on board, and money to spend, the range was trimmed, and the rest was refreshed or replaced, and then there was the latest generation of LEON, undoubtedly the best product to have come from SEAT, and it is selling, and selling like hot cakes, the Mii and Ibiza are also selling well, followed by the Toledo, but the less said about that model the better.

SEAT will be introducing a number of SUV's over the coming months, and with it, better profits and increased sales, SEAT is one of the few that does not have an SUV in its portfolio, so yes, they are late to the game, but by being a bit late, they can at least have the best , only time will tell if that's the case.

Then we finish with Volvo, the Swedish brand that was always known for safety first and design, well, somewhere else, but that's all changing, Volvo's today are better made, safer and with flair and passion, the entire range was recently treated to a mid life nip and tuck, and all models will be replaced with all new metal within the next five years, the start of this evolution is the XC-90, the one car that really needed to be changed.

The XC-90 was, at one point, Volvo's best seller, today, it is far from that, but this new one, will change that again, and it is so good that it deserves to be a mass seller, sales are on the up, Volvo's new owner, a Chinese corporation, has allowed it to develop with little interference, the only downside to Volvo's resurgence, is that the USA sales are still on the slide, and have been for some while, until this changes, bigger sales gains will be unattainable, which is a shame as today's Volvo is a totally different beast to ten years ago, and they really deserve to succeed.

THE 2014 BRAND OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNER

Goes to...............

This one was not as easy as it could have been, all the brands have plus and minus points, but with Peugeot, they have acknowledged there is an issue, and they are dealing with it, they are developing decent drivers cars, they have totally refreshed the brand, from branding to models, and everything in between, Peugeot deserves to be a huge success, the wilderness years had a bad effect on the range, but today's cars are far superior, new sporty variants are on the cards, quality is up, sales are up, they only need to deal with poor dealerships, especially the one we tried.

Jon Mower

TMW