THE all-new Mercedes E 300 BlueTEC Hybrid G-Tronic Plus has won the ‘Best Company Car for SME Directors’ category in the Business Car Manager SME Company Car of the Year Awards 2012, run in association with MAGMA Automotive Services.

The Mercedes E 300 BlueTEC Hybrid G-Tronic Plus was the outstanding winner in the category where the judges were looking for a car that must offer prestige but still be tax-efficient.

And cars don’t come any more prestigious than the three-pointed star of Mercedes.

Or more tax efficient at this executive level than the new hybrid E-Class with a seemingly impossible company car tax banding of just 12% – and as little as £86 a month in company car tax.

“The E-Class might have slightly less driveway appeal than Jaguar’s XF, which was also considered, but the Mercedes E 300 Hybrid puts up an unanswerable case in terms of taxation, emissions and economy – while showing a clean pair of heels on performance,” noted the judges.

It’s not all show and go, though. The Mercedes E 300 Hybrid is backed by the reassurance of a 3-year warranty with unlimited mileage and the same terms for the paintwork.

And if you order one, you won’t be waiting for ages, either. Lead time for the Mercedes E 300 Hybrid is between 1 and 3 months.

But any wait for the new Mercedes E 300 BlueTEC Hybrid will be worth it.  The standard equipment list includes full leather upholstery and fashionable Black Ash Wood trim on the dashboard and doors. Ambient lighting, heated seats, and automatic two-zone climate control are also included.

There’s plenty of business kit inside too: Becker Map Pilot navigation and the Audio 20 radio system feature on a dashboard-integrated 5.8-inch colour display that’s operated by the central controller dial along with Bluetooth compatibility for hands-free phone calls.

On the outside there’s body coloured door handles and chrome trim along with 17-inch 5-twin-spoke alloy wheels and LED daytime running lights and LED tail lights and indicators, so the Mercedes has real road presence.

Clearly, if anyone thought that tighter company car tax emissions would kill off big executive cars for SME company car directors, the engineers at Mercedes didn’t agree. With the hybrid technology that features on the E 300 Hybrid, the future of big executive motoring looks assured.

Without the company car tax bill.

You can read more about the winners in our special SME Company Car of the Year Awards section.

Mercedes E 300 BlueTEC Hybrid G-Tronic Plus: key company car information