“The Best Cars of 2013”: The MINI wins again – this time with family for company on the podium.

Munich. The category is “Mini Cars” and the winner is – once again – MINI. This year’s edition of the readers’ survey “The Best Cars” conducted by German motoring magazine “auto, motor und sport” saw the one-off British small car wrap up its latest class title. The MINI finished head and shoulders above its rivals in the import rankings of the “Mini Cars” segment. And, for the first time, it was joined on the winners’ podium by reinforcements from within the family. The MINI Coupé took third place, providing impressive confirmation of the strong popularity enjoyed by the Oxford-built premium small car range. And the brand wasn’t finished yet; a third MINI was also mixing it at the business end of proceedings. In its first nomination in the “Small Cars” category, the MINI Paceman took second place in the import rankings and third overall in the class.

As the top-three placings for three models demonstrate to eye-catching effect, the success of MINI is now founded on a broad base. The steady introduction of new models to the range over recent years has brought additional target groups to the brand. The MINI in its classical body variant continues to command the largest and most loyal fan community of all. Indeed, since its arrival in 2001, it has won at least one title every year in the survey of “auto, motor und sport” readers. By contrast, this was the first appearance of the MINI Coupé – launched around a year ago – in the upper reaches of its class, while the MINI Paceman celebrates the breakthrough with its launch date in Germany still a few weeks away.

The “auto, motor und sport” readers’ survey is an extremely significant – not to mention traditional – barometer of the popularity of cars in Germany. The 37th edition of the poll saw some 113,000 of the car magazine’s readers take up its invitation to crown “The Best Cars of 2013”. They were asked to make their selections from a field of 373 models in 10 categories.

MINI’s outstanding showing in the search to find “The Best Cars of 2013” furnishes further evidence – alongside its latest sales records – of the continued growth in enthusiasm for the brand. In 2012, MINI sold more than 300,000 cars worldwide for the first time, a 5.8 per cent increase on its figure for the previous year. And 2013 holds further potential for growth, thanks not least to the sales launch of the MINI Paceman.