Among the winners at Wednesday's 2004 Fleet News awards, attended by more than 1,200 people in London, were Volkswagen, which took four of the top prizes.

VW was named as Fleet Manufacturer of the Year, while the Polo took Best Small Car, the Touran took Best Mini-MPV and the Transporter van was named Best Van 2.1-2.8 tonnes.

Other winners included Toyota, which took the awards for best lower-medium car, with the Toyota Corolla, and best upper-medium car, with the Toyota Avensis. The BMW 3-series was named best premium upper medium car, while the Mercedes-Benz E-class took best executive car. Best luxury car was named as the Audi A8, while the Best SUV award went to the Volvo XC90. Best MPV was the Renault Espace.

The Fleet News judging panel was made up of 12 leading figures in the fleet industry chaired by the AM sister paper's editor, John Maslen.