Peugeot took the Manufacturer of the year award and pushed Ford and Vauxhall, its biggest rivals, into the runner-up places.

The carmaker, now in Rover's former No3 sales slot in the UK, believes its strong performance is based on improving customer care. It introduced a three-year warranty before Ford or Vauxhall.

The manufacturer award was introduced in 1999 when Peugeot took silver. Peugeot UK managing director Tod Evans collected the award from Daniel Burgess, national sales manager of sponsor Mondial Assistance.

Afterwards, Mr Evans said the days had gone when a company could expect to sell cars on the back of glossy and expensive marketing campaigns.