The award was presented on 29th January 2013 at the International Automobile Festival in Paris. Marc Langenbrinck, Director General of Mercedes-Benz Cars in France, accepted the award at the Hôtel des Invalides. The public vote has been held since 1987, and this time votes were accepted between 6th December 2012 and 20th January 2013.
The new A-Class has already received a number of awards for its progressive design, and was named "Germany's Most Beautiful Car" at the 2012 AUTO BILD Design Award. The readers of the German ADAC Motorwelt and users of the ADAC internet site also showed their support for the A-Class: Germany's favourite car was awarded the Yellow Angel 2013 by Europe's largest automobile club.