ADAC, the 18.9-million member German automobile club, selected BMW this year for three of its Gelber Engel (Yellow Angel) awards, in the categories of Strongest Brand (BMW), Quality (BMW X1), and Best Touring Sedan (BMW 520d). The Gelber Engel is one of the most significant prizes in the German automotive sector.
Unlike American auto clubs, ADAC has a large fleet of service vans driven by mechanics who patrol the German highways looking for motorists in distress. Often they can make repairs on the spot but if not, they can coordinate transport of the car to an appropriate repair facility. German drivers refer to the bright yellow vans adorned with a large black “ADAC” on the side as “Yellow Angels.” (When you’re stuck on the side of the Autobahn with a blown transmission at 8 PM on a Saturday night, they look pretty angelic. Ask me how I know.—sb)
Dr.-Ing. Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, accepted the award in the category “Strongest Brand,” a clear victory over competitors Audi and Mercedes. Dr.-Ing. Herbert Diess, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Development, accepted the “Gelber Engel” for the convincing quality of the BMW X1. The award for Best Touring Sedan went to the BMW 520d and was presented to Dr. Ian Robertson, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Sales and Marketing BMW.
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 Favorite Car,” “Innovation and Environment,” and “Personality.”
In 2011, 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 behavior, and safety standards are used to create an overall picture of the current performance level of 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-place competitors—Audi and Mercedes.
“Quality” is based on statistics published by ADAC after analyzing around 25 million cases. The BMW X1 repeated this award from last year. Third place for the BMW X3 in this class demonstrates the outstanding results achieved by the BMW X models.
The BMW 520d was voted Best Touring Sedan. This upmarket model, which is equipped with an 8-speed Steptronic automatic transmission, sprints from a standstill to 62 mph in 7.9 seconds and reaches a top speed of 144 mph. 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 fuel mileage, comfort and safety are taken into account. The BMW 520d EfficientDynamics Edition BluePerformance won the title “Vehicle of the Future” the previous year, and this latest success for the 520d is further proof of the BMW 5 Series’ outstanding characteristics.—Scott Blazey
