Gaydon / Frankfurt, 25. November 2009: Aston Martin has triumphed in the readers Auto Trophy 2009 vote presented by the German car magazine Auto Zeitung. Taking three awards, the British marque won recognition for the new Rapide, DB9 Volante and the V12 Vantage, making Aston Martin the most successful foreign sports car brand in the 2009 vote.
The Aston Martin Rapide, which celebrated its world premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show, and customer deliveries of which will start in the spring of 2010, was victorious in the category Luxury Class / Imported Cars. The car received 33.7 percent of the reader’s votes and was well ahead of its competition, the Maserati Quattroporte (19.5 percent) and Jaguar XJ (14.5 percent). “Such recognition for the Rapide before the car even enters the market is particularly encouraging for us”, said Dr. Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin Chief Executive, at the Auto Trophy-Gala in Berlin. “We set out to build the most elegant four-door sports car in the world, and that is what we have achieved.”
The Aston Martin V12 Vantage lead the category of Sports Car / Imported, winning with 30.9 percent, taking a similarly clear advantage over the Maserati GrandTurismo (14.8 percent) and the Corvette (13.5 percent) who took second and third place prizes respectively. The third winning Auto Trophy for Aston Martin went to the DB9 Volante in the category of Convertibles over 30,000 Euro / Imported cars, with 10.3 percent of the reader’s vote, followed by the Ferrari F430 Spider (9.1 percent) and the Lamborghini Murciélago roadster (7.0 percent).
This year is the 22nd edition of the Auto Trophy held by the magazine Auto Zeitung. Some 104,442 readers participated in the 2009 vote choosing their favourite cars from a selection of 370 vehicle models in 27 categories