BMW is now the leading provider of company cars to senior business executives, and has pipped Jaguar to top spot as the most popular boardroom car for both managing directors and chairmen. At the £40,000 benchmark salary level, 20% of employees chose to drive either BMW 3- or 5-series cars, 17% opted for Audi A4 or A6, and 16% selected either the Ford Mondeo or Scorpio, according to Buck Consultants' 'Directors' Cars Report 1997/98'.

Move up to the £60,000 salary level, and the BMW 5-series completely dominates executives' choice of a company car, accounting for 45% of those surveyed, trailed in second place by the Vauxhall Omega on 11%, and the Jaguar XJ6 on 8%.At managing director level BMW again came top with the 5- and 7-series achieving a 30% market share, followed by 18% for Jaguar and 14% for Mercedes.

And at the head of the boardroom, 26% of chairman chose a BMW 7-series as their company car, followed by 21% selecting Jaguar, 14% choosing the Mercedes E-class, 12% enjoying a Range Rover, and 10% selecting an Audi A8. Last year Jaguar dominated this sector of the market, selected by 48% of chairmen as their company cars, while BMW followed with 25%.