If you want to be an award winner in the motoring industry then you must have green appeal - as demonstrated by the Mazda 6 scooping the Best New Car award at the Fleet World honours.

The car, which went on sale at the turn of the year, is appealing to fleet operators primarily due to its low benefit in-kind tax bills and its outstanding fuel economy.

The Mazda 6 range boasts weight reducing engineering techniques that have allowed it to go on sale with benefit-in-kind tax groups up to four levels lower model-for-model than the previous version. Its CO2 figures are just 162g/km (hatchback) compared with 186g/km on its predecessor. This equates to a four band reduction on company car tax from 24 per cent in 2007/08 to 20 per cent in 2008/09. The 2.0 litre 147ps boasts similar savings on CO2 emissions down from 191g/km to just 168g/km.

The turbo diesel however, is the most economical model in the range - its emissions have dropped from 165g/km (hatchback) to just 149g/km with fuel economy at more than 50mpg.

The improvements in Vehicle Excise Duty combined with the savings on fuel make this a particularly popular model with fleet managers. The vehicle was praised at the awards ceremony for achieving such a high level of excellence in its sector.