Volkswagen up! Wins Again at UK's What Car? Magazine Awards

LONDON – Jan 11, 2013: Volkswagen’s much-lauded compact city car, the up!, has retained its small car crown at the UK‘s What Car? awards. The accolade was presented at a prestigious event held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

The up! has already proved a big hit, receiving numerous local and overseas industry accolades, including Drive’s safety innovation award, and even the prestigious title of World Car Of The Year.

Commenting on the award, Chas Hallett, What Car? editor-in-chief, said: “The Volkswagen up! was last year’s Car of the Year because it offers class-leading ride and refinement and is great to drive. Low running costs and strong residuals make it sensational to own.” Since arriving, the up! has faced stiff competition from a number of rivals, however, according to What Car? “none could match the up!’s sheer talent.”

As well as high quality, high levels of equipment and class-leading ride and refinement, the up! also offers excellent value for money, with pricing from $13,990 for the up! three-door. Volkswagen up! owners also enjoy the peace of mind with low capped-priced servicing for the vehicle’s first six years or 90,000km (whichever comes first).

All up! models feature a refined and economical three-cylinder 1.0-litre engine producing 55kW. Standard equipment on the up! includes ABS, four airbags, ESP and the award-winning City Emergency Braking system, which at speeds between 5km/h to 30km/h, detects the risk of an impending collision and can reduce accident severity, or even avoiding a crash entirely, by initiating automatic brake interventions.

So far, the up! is the only vehicle in the segment to offer this innovative technology, more commonly found in cars more than double the up!’s price.