Winners Of The Inaugural And Unique Carwow New Car Buying Awards Announced

The Nissan Qashqai has been crowned Car of the Year in the inauguralcarwow.co.uk New Car Buying Awards – the only motoring awards to consider sales figures, customer experience with franchised dealers, and the combined opinion of the UK's top motoring media. The full list of winners and runners up is available here: www.carwow.co.uk/awards-2015

Nissan's popular crossover also picked up Mid-size Car of the Year, as Nissan itself picked up Manufacturer of the Year for its exemplary customer satisfaction for carwow users over the 12 months from 1 September 2014.

The New Car Buying Awards are the only motoring awards to use real-time data on actual car-buying transactions to establish customer satisfaction. They take in to account how quickly dealers answer calls, how fast they respond to enquiries and real customer reviews.

All of this data is converted in to a CSI (Customer Satisfaction Index), with a maximum score of 10, and Nissan's 8.7 rating was the highest on the site, securing it Manufacturer of the Year 2015.

This CSI data also makes up one-third of the New Car Buying Awards criteria for Car of the Year, alongside a car's 'wowscore' – an average score awarded based on the combined opinion of the UK's top motoring media – and sales figures through carwow.co.uk. Since some manufacturers have more dealers signed up than others, the results are normalised. Each of the three judging criteria has a maximum score of 10 for a theoretical total of 30.

With its CSI score of 8.7, a normalised sales figure of 10 and a 'wowscore' of 8.9 the Nissan Qashqai scored a total 27.6, giving it the highest score of any car on the site and granting it the Car of the Year and Mid-size Car of the Year crowns for 2015.

Mercedes also picked up two awards in the carwow New Car Buying Awards: the C-Class won Premium Executive Car of the Year, while the SLK was awarded Sports Car of the Year. The C-Class was well ahead of its rivals, boasting a score of 25.7, with the C-Class Estate taking second place thanks to a score of 20.8. In the Sports Car category, where sales in general aren't quite as strong, the SLK scored 19.8, with its closest rival the Toyota GT86 at 17.2.

Ford and Audi picked up one award each, with Small Car of the Year for the Fiesta and Large Car of the Year for the Q5 respectively. In recognition of the most improved customer satisfaction for a manufacturer's dealers over the past year, the Rising Star Award went to Alfa Romeo.

James Hind, CEO of carwow, said: "Our New Car Buying Awards are unique in the industry – no one else considers not only how good a car is but also what your experience will be like when you're buying it. By taking the combined opinion of the UK's top motoring media in to consideration and the sales figures of a car though carwow we're rewarding cars that are highly regarded by the public and press alike. Uniquely, we know that the buying experience is just as important, so those manufacturers that score well for customer satisfaction on our site are rightly rewarded.

"The Qashqai is a worthy winner of our top prize this year, performing well for all three of our different criteria. The motoring media are huge fans and, judging by the sales we're seeing through carwow, so are the public. When customers do come to buy a Qashqai, they're almost always getting brilliant customer service from Nissan dealers, too, giving the Qashqai experience a real premium feel from start to finish."

Full list of winners (or head to www.carwow.co.uk/awards-2015)

Car of the Year

Nissan Qashqai
Volkswagen Golf
Ford Fiesta
Volkswagen Polo
Audi A3 Sportback

Small Car of the Year

Ford Fiesta
Volkswagen Polo
Hyundai i10
Volkswagen up!

Mid-size Car of the Year

Nissan Qashqai
Volkswagen Golf
Audi A3 Sportback
Volkswagen Tiguan
Skoda Octavia Estate

Large Car of the Year

Audi Q5
Volkswagen Touareg
Nissan X-Trail
Renault Grand Scenic
Ford Grand C-MAX

Sports Car of the Year

Mercedes SLK
Toyota GT86
Mercedes SL
Jaguar F-Type
Subaru BRZ

Premium Executive Car of the Year

Mercedes C-Class
Mercedes C-Class Estate
Audi A6 Avant
Mercedes E-Class
Jaguar XF

Manufacturer of the Year

Nissan

Rising Star Award

Alfa Romeo

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors:

carwow

There's a rapidly growing movement of people in Britain who are choosing a new way to buy their next car. It's where the best-rated dealers in Britain compete over buyers.

It's a way where awkward haggling is a thing of the past – you simply choose exactly the car you want online, then we find as many as five of the best offers from top-rated local and national dealers. You can compare offers by price, location and customer reviews. Your personal information stays private so you deal directly with the dealer on your terms, confident you already have their best offer up front.

It's great news for dealers, too. This revolution in car buying introduces them to more potential customers, helping increase sales, reduce costs and improve stock turnover. It's a better experience for everyone.

Quick facts

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For further information:

Ian Tonkin – Senior Manager
t: +44(0) 207 287 9610
m: +44 (0) 7718 897 803
e: ian@influenceassociates.com

Luke Madden – Manager
t: +44 (0) 207 287 9610
m: +44 (0) 7771 514 245
e: luke@influenceassociates.com