The Cowley-built Rover 75 luxury saloon was last night named Car of the Year by What Car? magazine - four months before it goes on sale.

Today a spokesman for Rover Oxford said: "The people building the car were already proud of it. It's already a winner for them and this is the icing on the cake.""It's also very, very good news to counteract all the ridiculous speculation which has come out in the press recently and a great reward for all the hard work by our workers here."

And unions' spokesman Tom White said: "It's excellent news, particularly when you consider that it hasn't gone on sale to customers yet."The award will help to secure jobs and put us in a strong position."

*Return to this site tomorrow for a full report.

Story date: Tuesday 23 February

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