Renault Clio scoops Golden Steering Wheel award

Renault Clio scoops Golden Steering Wheel award

The new Renault Clio has triumphed in the small car class at the 2012 Golden Steering Wheel awards.

After scooping the RTL/Auto Plus Best Production Car prize at the month's Paris Motor Show, the new car has picked up another international award.

It received the accolade from Axel Springer Group's weekly Bild am Sonntag, Germany's best-selling Sunday publication, and AutoBILD, the world's best-selling car magazine.

Now in their 37th year, the 2012 Gold Steering Wheel awards attracted 44 entries divided into six categories, with the final vote preceded by an exhaustive road test of each of the five finalists by a panel of personalities at the Balocco test facilities in Italy.

The drivers included Mattias Ekstrom, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Walter Rohrl, Christina Surer and Vanina Ickx, who were joined by the chief editors of the AutoBILD group's European magazines, and celebrities from the worlds of sport and showbusiness, including Franz Beckenbauer and Boris Becker.

It is the tenth time that Renault has triumphed in the category, with previous models to have secured the prize being the Fuego Coupe (in 1980), the compact Renault 9 (1981), the Renault 25 (1984), Clio (1990), the Espace (1991, 1997 and 2002), the Renault 19 (1992) and the Scenic MPV (2009).

Posted by Sebastien Turkenburg