Volkswagen has received two honours at the Auto Express New Car Awards 2012, with victories for the Golf Cabriolet and the Amarok bakkie.

The awards, which were presented at a ceremony in London on Tuesday, recognise the best cars on sale today, as judged by the editorial team at Auto Express. Both new and existing models are eligible and the best vehicles in every class are selected for an award.

The Golf Cabriolet was named "Best Convertible", while the Amarok won the inaugural award for "Best Pick-up", or "Best Bakkie" to us South Africans.

The Amarok uses Volkswagen's latest 2.0-litre common rail diesel engine to bring new levels of refinement and efficiency to the bakkie market, yet is just as powerful and more efficient than rivals that still use larger capacity units. It also has some of the lowest CO2 emissions in the sector, and was the first to dip under the 200g/km threshold.

Auto Express Editor-in-Chief Steve said: "The rugged yet refined Amarok proves that a big capacity for work need not come at the expense of comfort or efficiency.  It shows that pick-up drivers don't need to make compromises."

"Volkswagen's latest Golf Cabriolet is the best yet," said Fowler. "It has all the attributes that make every other Golf so brilliant, but with a huge dollop of sex appeal. It has its sensible side, but it sure knows how to let its hair down."

The Golf Cabriolet combines familiar Golf features with a more rakish look and an electrically powered fabric roof which can be folded away in 9.5 seconds. And a GTI version is on the way...