A British-built sports utility vehicle (SUV) has taken a prestigious car of the year award.

The Nissan Qashqai, built at Sunderland, has been named What Car? car of the year for 2014.

The Qashqai also took the best small SUV award, with the results being announced at a ceremony in London sponsored by Warranty Direct.

What Car? editor-in-chief Chas Hallett said: "The all-new Nissan Qashqai brings excellence and polish to a class of cars that is brimming with talent and tempting buys. The Qashqai delivers low costs and first-class levels of comfort, refinement, space and safety.

"Nissan has thought of every last detail, and this complete approach is why the Qashqai is What Car?'s car of the year. The Nissan team should be justifiably proud of their achievement."

Nissan Motor GB managing director Jim Wright said: "We're thrilled. A huge amount of effort has gone into the design and engineering of the new car, and we're all extremely excited about creating the template for the second-generation crossover."

The Qashqai was the sixth best-selling car in the UK in 2013, with sales passing 50,000.

In the What Car? awards BMW collected two trophies. Its 435i won best coupe and the new i3 was named best green car. Audi also had a double victory, with the A3 Saloon winning the best executive car and the A3 Cabriolet the best open-top car.

Two awards were presented to Ford for the Fiesta, with the 1.0T 100 Ecoboost Zetec 5dr being declared the best small car and the ST-2 the best hot hatch.

Sports car of the year went to the Porsche Boxster 2.7, while the MPV (multi-purpose vehicle) award went to the Citroen Grand C4 Picasso.

The British-built Range Rover Sport was named best large SUV and the luxury car award went to Mercedes-Benz for the S350 Bluetec L SE Line.

The Skoda Octavia was given the family car award and the estate car trophy went to Volkswagen for the Golf Estate 1.6 TDI SE Bluemotion Tech.

The all-new Nissan X-Trail, which goes on sale this summer, was awarded the most exciting car 2014 by What Car? readers.