Global Success: The BMW 3 Series Is Named “World Car of the Year”
The BMW 3 Series has been selected as “World Car of the Year“. The fifth generation of the most successful model in its category made an impressive showing by beating 26 rivals in the competition for the most significant worldwide automobile award. The “World Car of the Year Award“ is given out by a jury consisting of 46 industry journalists who evaluate the year's most important model innovations on the basis of 20 criteria, including design, vehicle performance, handling, comfort and functionality. This year’s awards were presented at the New York International Auto Show.
For the 2006 “World Car of the Year Award”, no other manufacturer managed to make such a lasting impression on the professional jury as BMW. In addition to its victory in the overall ranking, the BMW 3 Series also was singled out as one of the three strongest competitors in the specialty category, “World Car Design of the Year”. Both these awards and its strong commercial success demonstrate that the BMW 3 Series is still setting the bar for design and driving pleasure, even in its fifth generation. Moreover, the BMW M5 was placed among the top-three-ranking vehicles in the 2006 “World Performance Car” category.
Our excellent performance in the 2006 “World Car of the Year Award“ is striking proof of how well the BMW brand is succeeding at spreading the fascination and driving enjoyment of its vehicles on every continent. The qualities that characterize BMW-brand vehicles are highly prized by automobile experts and customers all over the world. The commercial success of the BMW 3 Series worldwide demonstrates, above all, that a model offering dynamic driving, efficiency, comfort and outstanding innovation possesses just the right features to be a leading global competitor.
Following the model changes in spring of 2005, around 230,000 units of the new BMW 3 Series Sedan alone were sold worldwide by the end of the year. The BMW 3 Series Touring Car that debuted in the fall of 2005 was also a commercial success from the very start. During the first quarter of 2006, 122,691 units of the BMW 3 Series were sold worldwide – an increase of 54.2 percent over the previous year.
In Singapore, the BMW 3 Series remains the class leader in the premium segment, with 377 units sold up to March. Recently, the 177bhp, 6-cylinder BMW 323i saloon was introduced to the market, joining the BMW 320i, BMW 325i and BMW 330i models.
At the “World Performance Car“ competition in New York, the BMW M5 managed to grab one of the top three rankings. The jury was impressed by the unique character of this high-performance sedan. Its high-performance, ten-cylinder engine, with an output of 373 kW/507 hp, provides a level of performance that previously was available only in true super sports cars. The BMW M5 combines this outstanding potential with the comfort and unlimited functionality of a business sedan, thereby providing the opportunity to experience unparalleled driving enjoyment even in everyday traffic.