Awards for brand strength, the BMW X1's quality and the BMW 520d as best touring sedan. 

Munich. The "Gelber Engel" award, presented this year by the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobilclub (ADAC) with its 18,9 million members for the tenth time, is one of the most significant prizes in the automotive sector.

Dr.-Ing. Norbert Reithofer,  Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, received the award in the category "Strongest Brand". In this category, BMW gained a clear edge over Audi and Mercedes. Dr.-Ing. Herbert Diess, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Development,  obtained the "Gelber Engel" award for the convincing quality of the BMW X1. The BMW 520d was named best touring sedan. Thus again, a 5 Series model achieved victory following the BMW 520d EfficientDynamics Edition BluePerformance in the previous year. This award was received by Dr. Ian Robertson, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Sales and Marketing BMW.

In keeping with the tradition, the award ceremony was this year again held in the Allerheiligen-Hofkirche at the Münchner Residenz in the presence of high-calibre representatives from the business world, politics, industry and the media. For the first time, Europe's largest automobile club presented the award in a total of nine categories: "Brand", "Quality", "Touring Sedan", "Family Car", "City Car", "Eco Car", "Germany's Favourite Car", "Innovation and Environment" and "Personality".

Back in 2011, the ADAC started to assess the reputation and brand strength of Germany's most important automobile manufacturers with the AutoMarxX. Individual criteria such as brand image, brand strength, customer satisfaction, product strength, environmental behaviour and safety standard create an overall picture of the current performance level of the most important automotive brands. In this category, BMW emerged as a clear winner and managed to expand the lead achieved in the first six month of 2013 over the second and third placed competitors Audi and Mercedes even further.

The result in the category "Quality" is based on the breakdown statistics published by the ADAC analysing around 25 million cases. As in the previous year, the BMW X1 managed to secure its position in the corresponding vehicle class. Third place for the BMW X3 in this class underlines the outstanding results achieved by the BMW X models.

The BMW 520d was voted best touring sedan and awarded with the "Gelber Engel". With an output of 135 kW/184 hp, the 520d, on average, makes do with a mere 4.5 litres of diesel fuel per 100 km. This corresponds to a CO2 emission level of 119 g/km. This upmarket model, which is equipped with an 8-speed automatic transmission featuring Steptronic, sprints from a standstill to 100 km/h in 7.9 seconds and reaches a top speed of 231 km/h. These criteria alone, however, are not sufficient to achieve victory in this category. The positive rating is based on the results of all ADAC vehicle tests of the year 2013 where - in addition to performance and consumption - comfort and safety are taken into account. The BMW 520d EfficientDynamics Edition BluePerformance won the title "Vehicle of the Future" the previous year and the latest success is further proof of the BMW 5 Series' outstanding characteristics. The new BMW 318d Gran Turismo, which finished fourth in its debut year, underlines the outstanding result achieved by the BMW models.

ADAC "Gelber Engel" awards are among the most important trophies in the German automotive industry. The accolades are handed out in nine categories. Decisions are made by juries of experts or ADAC members and are based on the results of breakdown statistics or the ADAC test. Due to these selection criteria the accolades are seen as a significant seal of quality in each category.

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