THE Volkswagen Passat has been voted Fleet Car of the Year in the annual Association of Car Fleet Operators' Fleet Vehicles of the Year Awards. Passat's triumph follows last year's equal first position with the Vauxhall Vectra. It beat 27 other vehicles which were nominated by ACFO members in the organisation's largest ever poll.

The Vauxhall Astravan again won the Fleet Light Van of the Year Award and the outgoing Ford Transit retained its Fleet Panel Van of the Year title. The results were announced at the British International Motor Show on Tuesday and the trophies will be presented at a lunch later this year. The judging criteria stress reliability, practicality, low cost of ownership and depth of range.

On winning the title with Passat - the current model will be replaced with a facelifted Passat which received its UK debut at the show - Volkswagen head of fleet Vince Kinner said: 'We know that competition for this award is tough because there are so many good models in the marketplace. To win this award, judged by very professional fleet managers and administrators, is a tremendous testament to the car and our dealer network.'