Top fleet vehicle manufacturers collect 2009 ACFO awards

The fleet operating credentials of the Volkswagen Golf, Ford Transit Connect, Volkswagen Caddy and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter were all recognised at the 2009 ACFO Fleet Car and Vans of the Year Awards.

ACFO chairman Julie Jenner presented the four winning manufacturers with their trophies after members of the leading fleet operators’ organisation voted basing their selection on the real world operating experience of vehicles in use on their fleets, over the past 12 months.

The Volkswagen Golf range won the ACFO Fleet Car of the Year Award making it a hat-trick of titles after making the breakthrough to top spot in 2007.

On receiving the trophy from Julie at the winner’s lunch in London today (Friday, November 20), Volkswagen UK’s head of fleet services Vincent Kinner said: “It’s a tremendous honour to be presented with the Fleet Car of the Year Award by the ACFO membership.

“The award means a great deal to us as it’s voted for by our customers who have, for the third time in a row, chosen the Golf as their favourite fleet vehicle. In a challenging market this bears testament to the inherent strength of sustained popularity of the product among both fleet and retail buyers.

“The Golf has enjoyed a very strong year in 2009 and, with record order banks, we’re expecting an even stronger performance in 2010.”

Meanwhile, Ford continued its dominance of the small van sector with the Transit Connect being named Fleet Light Van of the Year for the seventh time in succession. However, this year, Britain’s largest van seller shared the title with the Volkswagen Caddy - the first tie in the 26-year history of the ACFO Awards.

Kevin Griffin, Ford Britain fleet director, said: “To be elected winner by the ACFO membership for the seventh successive time for Transit Connect is an honour. It is recognition of Ford’s commercial vehicle success and why we remain the choice of thousands of British businesses.”

It is the first time that Volkswagen has captured an ACFO Van Award and Chris Blue, national fleet manager, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, said: “We are delighted to receive this award for the Caddy. It is one of our best-selling models in the UK, and proves popular with fleets for its excellent whole-life costs as well as its quality, durability and driver comfort.”

Finally, fleet operators voted the Sprinter into top spot in the Fleet Panel Van of the Year category for the first time.

Tim Carter, national fleet sales manager - van sales and marketing, Mercedes-Benz UK, said: “We are delighted that Sprinter has won against such strong competition. The award is particularly satisfying given that the win was achieved with votes based on ACFO members’ real world operating experience.

“The Award vindicates the faith growing numbers of fleet operators have been placing in Sprinter and its strong brand values of safety, reliability and engineering excellence, combined with strong whole-life cost elements.

“Additionally, we believe the Sprinter is a very serious proposition for fleets who are wrestling with health and safety legislation, duty of care and environmental issues, offering as it does industry leading active and passive safety systems, a ‘big’ cab environment, latest generation Euro5 emission compliant engines with an ECO-Start option and natural gas technology.

“As well as the product strengths we should also recognise the strength of the dealer network which is a key part of the relationship Mercedes Benz and Sprinter has with fleet operators large and small.”

Julie said: “The Awards continue to represent the true face of fleet operations, rather than showroom appeal.

“The 2009 Awards in many ways mark a sea-change. Our decision to move to an online voting process has been rewarded with members voting in record numbers for their vehicles of the year, which is very pleasing and underlines the importance our members attach in sending a signal to manufacturers of their views on current model line-ups.

“Additionally, the fact that a total of 40 cars and 35 vans all scored at least one vote underlines the breadth of models that are applicable for business use and the importance of the fleet sector to a wide range of motor manufacturers.”