Dollars and Pounds: WhatCar Awards 2014 The New Cars Money Can Buy

Monday, 13 January 2014

WhatCar Awards 2014 The New Cars Money Can Buy

British-built Nissan Qashqai was crowned WhatCar? motor of the year in its 37th annual awards held on Wednesday night at Grosvenor House, London.

It is the first time that Nissan has won the overall car of the year award from the magazine, which only considers motors launched in the last 12 months.

The second-generation Nissan Qashqai crossover – which hits showrooms next month - was also named best small sports utility vehicle in the annual ceremony.

Chas Hallett, editor-in-chief at WhatCar?, said: ‘The all-new Nissan Qashqai brings excellence and polish to a class of cars that was already brimming with talent and tempting buys.

‘The Qashqai delivers low costs and first-class levels of comfort, refinement, space and safety. The Nissan team at the Sunderland plant should be justifiably proud of their achievement.’

Jim Wright, managing director of Nissan Motor GB, said: ‘We’re thrilled that What Car? has named the new Qashqai as its 2014 car of the year.

‘A huge amount of effort has gone into the design and engineering of the new car, and we’re all extremely excited about creating the template for the second-generation crossover.’

The Qashqai comes packed with technology, including 360-degree parking camera which gives a top-down bird’s eye view of the car and its position, as well as Intelligent Park Assist which steers the vehicle into a parallel parking bay.

Judges praised the attention to detail of the Japanese car-firm’s crossover, which was also designed and engineered in the UK, and said the quality of workmanship was a feather in the cap for Nissan’s 6,100-strong workforce at the factory in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear.

This is Money reveals the full list of winners in each category below along with the target price: