The Skoda Fabia has won the title of Car of the Year (COTY) 2015 at this years’ What Car? Awards.

In association with Warranty Direct, winners of each individual category were revealed at a ceremony held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London’s Park Lane last night.

The Skoda Fabia 1.2-litre TSI 89bhp SE model beat off tough competition from 25 other vehicles that made the COTY shortlist.

What Car?’s panel of judges praised the Fabia’s turbocharged 1.2-litre petrol engine, which combines punchy and flexible performance with impressive efficiency with a potential 58.8mpg and 110g/km emissions.

The Czech model also won the Small Car category, for both space and practicality, while the technology that comes as standard on the Fabia includes a brilliant 6.5-inch touch-screen and a ‘Mirrorlink’ system that can sync with Android phones to provide sat-nav.

What Car? editor Jim Holder said: “The Fabia is a fully deserved winner of our most sought after award – not just because of the fact it is a well-equipped and practical small car, but also because of the big name rivals it has disposed of in the process.

“We’ve driven and evaluated all of its rivals and, whichever way you cut it, the Fabia is the most rounded small car on sale in the UK today.”

Other 2015 winners include the Skoda Octavia for the Family Car category, the Audi A3 e-tron (electric car), Citroen Grand C4 Picasso (MPV) and the Nissan Qashqai winning SUV of the Year. A full list of category winners can be seen here.

Land Rover’s Discovery Sport won the inaugural What Car? Car of the Year Safety Award, presented in conjunction with Thatcham Research; the UK’s only Euro NCAP crash test centre.