THE British-built Vauxhall Astra can now add ‘The SME Company Car of The Year’ crown to its already rapidly filling trophy cabinet.
Voted for by the independent judging panel, the British-built Astra on sale for a year beat the new Jaguar F-Pace and the new Audi A4 in the SME small fleet focused awards, which are supported by Fleet Alliance, a leading lease car supplier to the SME business sector.
It was a triple triumph for Vauxhall, with the Astra also taking the Best Value Company Car title and the company displacing BMW for the Best Company Car Programme.
Editorial director of Business Car Manager Ralph Morton commented: “The Vauxhall Astra is such a great all-round car for the SME business buyer, it’s not hard to see why our independent judges placed it first.
“The built in Britain Astra has great operating costs, so that’s a big plus for the finance director; and also delivers over 85mpg economy and low company car taxation, which is a massive plus for any SME employee.
Category winners:
- Best Value SME Company Car: Vauxhall Astra1.6 CDTi Design 110PS S/S ecoFLEX
- Best SME Compact Company Car: MINI Cooper 1.5D Hatch
- Best SME Large Company Car: Audi A4 2.0 TDI ultra Sport 150PS
- Best SME Director’s Company Car: Jaguar F-Pace 2.0 R-Sport 180PS AWD Auto
- Best SME Green Company Car: BMW i3 94Ah with Range Extender Auto
- Best SME Company Car Programme: Vauxhall
- Best SME After Sales Programme: Hyundai
“But above all it delivers a great all-round proposition of enjoyable driving dynamics, great specification, and low costs. Congratulations to all at Vauxhall, and in particular the workers at Ellesmere Port where the Astra is built.”
On its way to the top title the Astra won ‘Best Value SME Company Car’ in these Business Car Manager awards.
Well, in award-winning 110PS 1.6 CDTi Design ecoFLEX form, this Vauxhall has emissions well below the sub 100g/km emissions holy grail barrier, yet this Vauxhall is built for business and is still great to drive.
This Vauxhall won because of its 85.6 mpg combined fuel economy and CO2 emissions of just 88 g/km.
However, despite the low running costs and tax bills, this Astra is still a proper compact hatch, is great to drive with lots of business-focused standard kit.
What the judges thought:
“In terms of overall whole life costs, the Astra is the most cost effective option. Its impressive 85mpg tips the balance despite SEAT Ateca having a lower contract hire rental. Astra also enjoys the lowest BIK charge.”