The Irish Car Of The Year goes to the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, with the C-Class Coupe taking a segment honour.

The Irish Car of the Year Awards in association with Continental tyres took place last night, October 27th, at the Powerscourt Hotel, Enniskerry.

Journalists from Print, online and broadcasting hosted a gala black-tie event attended by Ireland’s leading car brands, importers, distributors & other motoring dignitaries.

Mercedes-Benz took the top award with their E-Class and also a category win with the C-Class Coupé, crowned Irish Medium Car of the Year 2017.

ICOTY Committee member Michael Sheridan “E Class has set the bar to new heights.”

ICOTY Committee member John Galvin “We’ve had 40 years of Irish Car of the Year and the E-Class is an exceptional winner.”

Tom Dennigan of Continental Tyres said about the awards “Continental is delighted to be associated with Irish Car of the Year, an event that continues to be the highlight of the motoring year.”

Stephen Byrne, Chief Executive, Mercedes-Benz in Ireland, said: “We are honoured to win the Irish Car of the Year 2017 award. This accolade bestowed by Irish motoring journalists is a recognition of the advanced technology and features to be found in the new generation E-Class.”

The category winners:

• Suzuki Baleno - Irish Small Car of the Year 2017
• Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupé - Irish Medium Car of the Year 2017
• Mercedes-Benz E-Class - Irish Large Car of the Year 2017
• Peugeot 2008 - Irish Small SUV of the Year 2017
• Hyundai Tucson - Irish Medium SUV of the Year 2017
• Ford Edge - Irish Large SUV of the Year 2017
• Ford Mustang - Irish Performance/Sports Car of the Year 2017

The category winners were all in the running for the top honour with the judging panel of close to 30 journalists electing E-Class by a landslide margin.

The Irish Car of the Year committee

Bob Flavin, John Galvin, Michael Moroney and Michael Sheridan

Mercedes at the Goodwood festival of Speed 2014

Mercedes-Benz is set to be leading marque at the 21^st Goodwood Festival of Speed between June 26 and 29 – celebrating some of the greatest cars both on the road and track, the most skilled, passionate and dedicated drivers to have steered them to victory and a commitment to motorsport, spanning 120 years.

The Central Feature – a sculpture created by Goodwood’s artistic genius, Gerry Judah – the over-arching theme of which will be Mercedes-Benz, is guaranteed to be the most dramatic yet and will be officially launched on the evening of the Moving Motor Show, Thursday, June 26.

The on-track action will be led by Lewis Hamilton as he lights up the tyres of his MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One machine as he takes to the 1.16-mile Goodwood Hill on Sunday. He’ll be joined by iconic cars spanning a century – from the Mercedes Grand Prix racing car that formed part of the trio that scored a one-two-three at the French Grand Prix in 1914 – to the beautiful and brutal W 125 and W 165 Silver Arrows.

Among the rarest of the cars to be taking on the Hill with be a 300 SLS from 1957, joined by the wide-arch eccentricity of a 500 SL rally car from 1981.

Some of the most focused and successful racing machines ever built will also be present, from the Sauber-Mercedes C 9 to the Penske-Mercedes PC 23 IndyCar from 1994 and the CLK-LM from 1998. Adding a modern twist will be an SLS AMG GT3 racer along with the DTM Mercedes AMG C-Class Coupé and roadgoing siblings in the most extreme AMG yet, the SLS AMG Black Series and the mightiest hot hatch of them all – the A 45 AMG.

On static display meanwhile will be the Mercedes-Benz AMG Vision Gran Turismo concept – first seen last year at the Los Angeles Motor Show and making its UK debut at Goodwood. Visitors to Goodwood will be able to drive the car virtually on the Goodwood Hill via the Sony PlayStation 3 and Gran Turismo 6.

The tech doesn’t end there – the Mercedes-Benz Exhibition will this year host a trio of Oculus Rift experiences. They will allow visitors to get closer than ever before to the feeling of going up the Goodwood Hill with special 360 degree footage being played through the virtual reality devices. Likewise, visitors will be able to lap Silverstone virtually in the current MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS F1 W05 Hybrid or to indulge in some drifting with Lewis Hamilton in an E 63 AMG S Estate.

Driving Mercedes-Benz racers and road cars for real at Goodwood will be a line-up of legendary drivers – from Roland Asch to Anthony Davidson and Dario Franchitti, Johnny Herbert and Silver Arrows driver Hans Herrmann, Klaus Ludwig and Jochen Mass, Sir Stirling Moss, Paul and Sir Jackie Stewart, Bernd Schneider and Karl Wendlinger.

The event promises to be a fitting celebration with more surprises and announcements to come as the Festival draws nearer.

Note: images and footage summarising the day’s action at Goodwood will be released on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings at 17:00.

Mercedes like others have a record March.

• Biggest month ever, at 18,655 new car registrations, up 15.4 per cent
• Biggest quarter ever, 28,698 new cars registered, an increase of 13.2 per cent
• Mercedes-Benz continues to be the fastest-growing premium brand
• Record monthly and year to date (YTD) market share of 4.7 per cent
• Record month for C-Class Coupé, CLS four-door Coupé, G-Class
• AMG registrations up 89.6 per cent YTD
• Registrations to private buyers increase 16.3 per cent YTD
• Vans record a strong March, with registrations up 3.8 per cent
• 199 Citans registered in the first full month of customer sales

Milton Keynes.  Mercedes-Benz UK and its dealer network have achieved their best-ever record-breaking registration performance, according to figures released today by SMMT.  March 2013 was the most successful in the company’s history, with 18,655 new cars being registered.  This is an increase of 15.4 per cent over March 2012.

March topped a record-breaking quarter for the company, as 28,698 new cars were registered in Q1, which was 13.2 per cent more than the first three months of last year.  The quarterly result eclipses the previous record, set at the end of 2012, by 2700 cars.

The stellar results mean that Mercedes-Benz continues to be the UK’s fastest-growing premium manufacturer, and in a buoyant overall new car market, recorded its best-ever month and year to date market share of 4.7 per cent.  Likewise, registrations to retail customers were up 16.3 per cent.

The registration boost was reflected across the range, with sustainable levels of growth in all segments.  The C-Class achieved 10th place in the overall registration figures for the UK in March and ninth place for Q1. Registrations, meanwhile, were up in all sectors. The CLS Coupé, for example, reported 1301 registrations – a record for March and for Q1.

High-performance purchases were up too, as AMG registrations increased by 89.6 per cent for the YTD. So far this year, 747 new AMGs have been registered, including 27 G 63 AMGs; marking an overall YTD AMG increase of 89.6 per cent.

Marcus Breitschwerdt, President and CEO Mercedes-Benz UK, explained the results:  “More new and returning customers than ever before are choosing to drive a Mercedes-Benz, and that’s great news for them, and the thousands of dedicated people we’ve got all over the country who work so hard to achieve these extraordinary results.  Everybody’s hard work and effort is paying off.  Making our attractive, exciting, affordable premium cars appeal to ever-more people is our mission and it’s a mission we’re continuing to meet head-on.

“Today’s results also show that we’re not dependent on one or two models to bolster the bulk of our sales volumes – we’re selling more cars to more people across the entire range.  AMG appropriately continues to charge ahead, as does every vehicle in our portfolio that we’re volume-controlling by either its graduated introduction or phased run-out.”

Marcus Breitschwerdt continued:  “We don’t take any of this success for granted, and are using the momentum of our new car registration results to continue to offer great deals on fantastic products through our UK network of excellent dealerships.  We’ve a wide range of new cars ready to arrive in the UK too, and I’m looking forward to the opportunities and results throughout the rest of the year.”

Commercial vehicles

Mercedes-Benz vans rallied to a strong performance in March, with registrations increasing by 3.8 per cent to 5888 units.

The new Citan got off to a great start, with 199 new compact vans being registered in the first full month of customer sales.  Over 200 Euro-V Vito Taxis have been registered YTD, over 26 per cent more than Q1 2012.

Actros led the heavy trucks divisions’ performance, with registrations rallying 60.8 per cent in March 2013, and up 2.6 per cent over 2012’s launch phase.  Axor increased 5.3 per cent in March, and Fuso Canter registrations were up 17.6 per cent in the same month.

Marcus Breitschwerdt commented: “It’s encouraging to see that our vans division is delivering great results, and the first figures from our compact Citan show it is supporting the success of our established Vito [medium] and Sprinter [large] vans.

“Our heavy truck range is currently going through the biggest change-over in our history, and pretty soon the New Actros will be the ‘oldest’ product we offer – and it’s only just turned one year-old!

“At next week’s CV Show we’re showcasing a wealth of new products, showing that Mercedes-Benz is making enormous investments across the range to deliver efficient, safe, cost-effective commercial vehicles for operators that help drive British businesses forward.

“A new van or truck can be an important investment, and our team will be on site at the NEC in Birmingham to explain in detail how a new Mercedes-Benz can support their businesses.”