With 59 of the top automotive journalists from around the globe judging, the VW Polo surpassed a total of 29 other nominees to take the title of 2010 World Car of the Year.

'We're honoured that the Volkswagen Polo was chosen by this distinguished group of jurors,' said Dr Martin Winterkorn, chairman of Volkswagen AG. 'After the great triumph of the Golf last year, we are delighted to repeat this success with the new Polo. These automobiles have reaped numerous awards, winning well-nigh every prize the automotive industry has to award. This shows that Volkswagen is on the right track and is offering arguably the best range of products in its history.'

In a separate award, the BlueMotion product brand, consisting of the Golf, Passat, and Polo, was declared the 2010 World Green Car of the Year by the World Car of The Year organisation.  

The 59-member jury awarded the BlueMotion product brand over two other finalists in the 2010 World Green Car award: the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius.

Jurors felt that: ‘It is not necessary to add an electric motor and a heavy battery pack to achieve class-leading efficiency. Based on Volkswagen's common-rail diesel engines, the BlueMotion models are among the most fuel-efficient vehicles on the market. In fact, the Passat BlueMotion can travel just about 1,000 miles on one tank of fuel in the European cycle. As far as internal combustion engines go today, these models are the ultimate you can get.'

The award was received at the New York International Auto Show on Thursday 1 April by Walter de Silva, head of design for Volkswagen Group.