BusinessCar awards its car of the year title to the Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

BusinessCar Magazine’s 2015 Car of the Year is the Mercedes-Benz C-class.

The fleet publication’s awards carry particular weight because they are the only accolades in the industry to be decided entirely by the readership of BusinessCar magazine and BusinessCar.co.uk, and the C-class took the top spot ahead of Peugeot’s impressive new 308.

BMW continued to show its strength in the fleet market by taking two headline awards, including Manufacturer of the Year for the fifth year running and Green Model of the Year with its pioneering i3 electric supermini.

Leasing company Alphabet took the remaining headline award as Service Supplier of the Year.

“The new C-class has propelled Mercedes-Benz into the middle of the fiercely competitive premium upper medium saloon marketplace and massive improvements over the previous model have meant the company has picked up its first ever Business Car of the Year prize,” said Paul Barker, BusinessCar editor.

“The C-class currently offers the most efficient diesel in the sector and there’s also a 94g/km hybrid, plus the 48g/km plug-in coming in April 2015.

“But there’s more to the C-class than just efficiency gains. The classier and more sporty looks combine with a serious focus on whole life costs to propel the new model into fleet heartland territory.”

Barker continued: “BMW’s popularity with the fleet industry is clearly demonstrated with its win as Manufacturer of the Year and this is backed up by four car category wins overall.  It highlights BMW as a brand getting it right for fleet across its range, with cars that are appealing, good to drive and great value to run.

“The corporate market is extremely competitive with some incredible products available to help businesses carry out their work. Winners at this year’s awards should be proud that BusinessCar’s readers have picked them out as the best in the industry.”

Other notable winners include The AA, which picked up three awards in the important Accident Management, Risk Management and Vehicle Recovery categories. Volkswagen also picked up multiple awards with wins in the mainstream lower medium, mini-MPV and mainstream 4x4 categories for its Golf, Touran and Tiguan respectively, while Ford, Vauxhall, Hyundai, Kwik-Fit and BCA were also among the winners.