Again: the BMW 3 Series is the best car of its class

Picking up a long-standing glorious tradition of its predecessors, the new 3 Series (E90) right away wins the title of the "Best car of its Class" in this year's election of the premier german car magazine "Auto, Motor, Sport" (AMS). 302 contestants in 10 categories were on the list when about 100,000 readers made their choice. Winner in the category of sportive middle class sedans with almost one third of all votes is the BMW 3 Series.

The new 3 Series, available since March 2005, was sold roughly 230,000 times in 2005, making it the most successful car of the BMW Group, accounting for 17% of BMW's sales. But other BMW cars were similarly successful in this year's election: the 1 Series made the second place in the compact class, the 5 Series the second place in the upper middle class, and the X5 the second place in the off-road class. All-in-all, the BMW Group sold 1.3 million cars in 2005, a plus of 10% above the record year of 2004. This makes BMW the most successful premium car manufacturer world-wide.