German Carmakers Return Best-Car Awards in ADAC Scandal

BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen say they are returning several best-car awards they received from Germany's ADAC auto association after the group admitted to manipulating the vote totals in this year's ratings, Reuters reports.

ADAC's formerly esteemed "Yellow Angel" award is based on a tally of votes by the organization's 18 million members. The club declared the Volkswagen Golf this year's winner with about 34,300 ballots. But an audit by Deloitte found the car actually garnered fewer than 3,300 votes.

Deloitte says it is reviewing voting records going back to 2005 to search for evidence of similar tampering.

Michael Ramstetter, ADAC's communications chief and editor of the group's Motorwelt magazine, resigned in January when the scandal surfaced. ADAC President Peter Meyer resigned today.