Range Rover is celebrating after the Evoque scooped the Car of the Year 2011 trophy at the Auto Express awards last night (August 2). The Evoque won its class in the Compact SUV category and went on to beat 17 other class winners to top the charts.

The magazine praised the Evoque by saying: "The Evoque puts the hugely desirable Range Rover brand within the reach of compact executive car buyers for the very first time."

Range Rover's UK Managing Director, Colin Green, said: "The first production Evoque was driven off the line at Land Rover's Halewood manufacturing plant in Liverpool only last month. To receive an accolade such as this so soon, and from such a respected journal as Auto Express, is a huge boost for the talented and dedicated professionals who have worked so hard and so long to bring the Evoque to market."

Land Rover made it a double celebration as the Discovery 4 lifted the prize for Best Large SUV, while Volkswagen scooped a hatrick of awards. The Golf won Best Hatch and the GTI version took the Best Hot Hatch sector, and VW's BlueMotion range was presented with the Green Award.

Other multiple winners included Skoda and Hyundai. Skoda took the Best Crossover prize with the Yeti and Best Family Car with the Superb, and the Czech firm was also presented with Auto Express' Driver Power Award that is decided by the magazine's readers. Hyundai was presented with awards for Best Supermini for the i10 and Best Supermini MPV for the ix20.

Other notable winners include the Ford Focus for its Driver Assistance Pack that earned it a Special Award, while Saab shrugged off its current woes to lift the Design Award for its PhoeniX concept.

A full list of the winners is:

Best City Car - Hyundai i10
Best Supermini - Ford Fiesta
Best Premium Supermini - Audi A1
Best Supermini-MPV - Hyundai ix20
Best Compact Family Car - Volkswagen Golf
Best Crossover - Skoda Yeti
Best Family Car - Skoda Superb
Best Compact Executive Car - BMW 3 Series
Best Executive Car - Audi A6
Best Luxury Car - Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Best Compact SUV - Range Rover Evoque
Best Large SUV - Land Rover Discovery 4
Best Estate - Skoda Superb Estate
Best MPV - SEAT Alhambra
Best Hot Hatch - Volkswagen Golf GTI
Best Coupe - Peugeot RCZ
Best Convertible - BMW 3 Series Convertible
Best Roadster - Mazda MX-5
Green Award - Volkswagen BlueMotion
Performance Car of the Year - Ferrari 458 Italia
Design Award - Saab PhoeniX
Driver Power Award - Skoda
Special Award - Ford Focus, Driver Assistance Pack
Auto Express Hall of Fame - Nick Reilly, President, GM Europe
Car of the Year - Range Rover Evoque