The new BMW 3 Series is the Car of the Year at this year's motoring 'Oscars', the What Car? Awards.

The BMW overcame tough competition from 14 other category winners, celebrated at a glittering ceremony in the Grosvenor House Hotel on London's Park Lane earlier this month.

The award-winning BMW is the 320d ES. What Car? - Britain's leading car buying advice brand both on the newsstand and on the Web - praised the BMW for its complete and overall package.

What Car?'s group editor, Steve Fowler, said: "No other new car is as great in so many ways as the BMW 3 Series. Whatever your priorities, it delivers."

Once-ridiculed Skoda was delighted to receive two awards - Best Small Family Car for the Skoda Octavia 1.6 Ambiente and Best Hot Hatch for its sporty Skoda Octavia vRS. Renault took the award for best supermini with its new Clio.

For the first time What Car? introduced a Green Award to recognise the manufacturer or organisation that has done most to make travel by car more environmentally friendly. This inaugural award went to Toyota and Lexus for leading the way in the development of hybrid and clean diesel technologies.

Citroën picked up the Safety Award for its industry-leading advancements - the Citroën C6 became the first car ever to be awarded the maximum Euro NCAP four-star rating for pedestrian protection, while the Citroën C4 achieved a full five-star rating for occupant safety and features such advancements as a lane-departure warning system (which vibrates the driver's seat whenever the car drifts across lanes when the indicators have not been activated) and laminated side glass.

Last year's overall Car of the Year, the Land Rover Discovery, triumphed once again in the Large 4x4 category. However, it was the only British-built model to receive a What Car? award in 2006.