“the sportiest cars of 2008″: six wins for the BMW Group in the readers’ vote held by sports car magazine “sport auto”.
06/06/2008

Munich. Six class victories and five other models among the winners - this is the BMW Group’s final result in the readers’ vote “The sportiest cars of 2008″ held by the sports car magazine “sport auto”. This impressive outcome once more demonstrates the BMW Group’s outstanding position as a manufacturer of exceptionally sporty vehicles. Models of the brands BMW and MINI climbed the winner’s rostrum in 11 of the 14 categories reserved for serial production cars. Together with its six class victories, this meant the BMW Group emerged from the “sport auto” readers’ vote as the most successful manufacturer - just as it did last year.
With the evaluation categories divided up into price segments, body and engine versions, there were a total of 230 models, including 146 serial production vehicles and 84 tuning versions. Four petrol engine and two diesel models clinched class victories for the BMW Group. The most outstanding success was achieved by the BMW 123d Coupé which gained 50.5 per cent of votes for diesel engines up to 35,000 euros, while in the class above this the BMW 335d came out top with 39.5 per cent of the vote. In the category of small cars, the new MINI John Cooper Works finished first with 37.7 per cent, while the sedan classes up to 45, 000 and 90,000 euros were led by the BMW 335i (34.4 per cent) and the BMW M3 Sedan (38.3 per cent) respectively. The victorious sextet was completed by the BMW 335i Coupé, which gained 20.4 per cent of the vote to finish as the sportiest coupé in the price class up to 45,000 euros.

An overview of how BMW Group models finished:

MINI John Cooper Works: Winner - small cars
BMW 130i: Second - compact cars
BMW 123d Coupé: Winner - diesels up to 35,000 euros
BMW 335d: Winner - diesel over 35,000 euros
BMW 335i: Winner - sedans up to 45,000 euros
BMW M3 Limousine: Winner - sedans up to 90,000 euros
BMW M5: Second - sedans over 90,000 euros
BMW Z4 Roadster 2.5si: Third - convertibles/roadsters up to
40,000 euros
BMW M3 Convertible: Second - convertibles/roadsters up to
80,000 euros
BMW 335i Coupé: Winner - coupés up to 45,000 euros
BMW M3 Coupé: Third - coupés up to 90,000 euros

This excellent result continues the BMW Group’s winning series in terms of international awards. As recently as May 2008 the manufacturer collected six prizes for five engines at the renowned “International Engine of the Year Awards”. For the second time in succession, the overall prize for this competition went to the 6-cylinder Twin Turbo engine - which provides fascinating driving dynamics in models such as two of the prize-winners mentioned above, the BMW 335i and the BMW 335i Coupé.