Best executive company cars 2025

As anyone who’s tried to shoehorn a Billy Bookcase into a BMW 3 Series knows, a saloon is fundamentally inflexible. It's one reason why we all thought the saloon might be dead by now, buried by the undisputed champ of car shapes, the SUV.
But no, as we head into 2025 the saloon is still going strong. A good saloon has a sense of old-school class and prestige that an SUV just can’t match; the classic ‘three-box’ shape is still inherently a status symbol for many people. It’s “executive”, you might say. Saloons make great company cars. So here are ten of them. Proper good ones. (Electric cars in general make good company cars too, thanks to the electric car salary sacrifice scheme. Read all about it by clicking this blue text right here.)

You could argue that the Model 3 has been pivotal in keeping the saloon genre itself going. Back in 2017 saloons were well on their way out, usurped by the SUV as the choice of… everyone. Then Tesla came along with a car that buried otherworldly technology into its massive touchscreen, yet wrapped in a saloon shape that looked surprisingly old school. Winning combo.

It’s brave to give a car a name that’s a superlative adjective. But Skoda totally gets away with it here because the Superb is just that good. Technically speaking it’s a hatchback, which means it has the classy look of a saloon but with a MASSIVE tailgate that makes it big load friendly. It also has the comfort, refinement and interior space of something much more expensive.

Looks great; proper fun to drive; solidly built; lots of character; more reliable than you think; reasonably priced; rare enough to feel special. The end.
Read our Alfa Romeo Giulia review here if you fancy

Doing a list of executive saloons and not including the BMW 5 Series is like doing a list of baked goods and not including the sausage roll. Obviously. The 5 Series is endlessly popular by virtue of being cutting edge, comfy, classy and great to drive. It’s been that way since back in ‘72. Today’s car is the eighth version, released in 2023, and still blending supreme comfort, space, tech and exciting driving dynamics as effortlessly as ever.

Unveiled aaaalllllll the way back in 2017, the 508 is ancient in car years. It still looks fresh though, mainly because Peugeot’s esoteric, little-wheeled interior design has aged really well. Also the car was comprehensively updated recently, so there’s that. If you’re after something different and great value, and you’re willing to live with bumpy ride quality and poor rear headroom, this is the left-field French saloon for you.

It's a funny thing, the Ioniq 6. Not funny like the time the BBC reminded Jeremy Clarkson why he’d originally bought his farm, at that tax protest rally. But funny because it’s designed to look like a train from the 1930s and a car from the 2030s at the same time. Unusual funny. There’s plenty to like about it, though. The interior is cutting edge, it’s quick, comfy to drive, and looks like nothing else. The only real problem is that the Hyundai Ioniq 5 is all those things too, while being a lot more practical. Oh well.

Deep Space 9 delves into themes of reconciliation, cultural fusion and the ethics of post-war recovery, all while maintaining the signature moral complexity and character-driven storytelling that we’ve come to expect of the Star Trek univ…oh wait. Stupid AI.
Mind, ‘cultural fusion’ is about right, because the DS9 aims to blend Germanic build quality and prestige with French idiosyncrasy and design flair. And it does that to excellent effect. Sorry, that was dreadful. Not sorry enough to delete it though.

BYD literally claims to ‘Build Your Dreams’. And if you’ve ever had a dream in which you give someone a lift in a highly tax-efficient Chinese electric car and watch their wide-eyed wonderment as you press a button that makes the massive touchscreen rotate 90 degrees from landscape orientation to portrait orientation, then the company’s claim is in fact true. If you’ve not had that dream, hey ho. The Seal is still a decent electric car with plenty of space and kit, and which generates quite a lot of intrigue on the streets because it’s not a BMW or an Audi or a Tesla or a Lexus or a McDonalds.

Two of the following cars are not Lexuses currently on sale on the UK. See if you can guess: LBX, UX, NX, RZ, XG, RX, ES, LS, LL, LM. Oh how we wish Lexus would give its cars proper names. Anyways, the ES is an exceptionally high-quality and sharp-looking saloon that’s very easy to recommend. Not least because of Lexus’ reputation for reliability and impeccable dealer service. Sadly, the infotainment experience is more frustrating than being in the Oasis queue on Ticketmaster. Other than that, though, lovely.

It had to be here, right? The steak bake to the 5-Series’ sausage roll. The E-Class isn't quite as engaging to drive as the 5 Series (it was ever thus), but it’s a bit more comfortable and feels more like a luxury car inside – especially if you tick the SUPERSCREEN option. SUPERSCREEN! SUPERSCREEN basically makes the entire dashboard one big digital display, and is the most spectacular thing Mercedes has done since that elk test. If you know you know.