Car of the Year not only about muscle, also about value for money
The piquant Kia Picanto is rubbing shoulders with much bigger and impressive contenders for the coveted Car of the Year title in South Africa. The other nine overbearing siblings are the Alfa Romeo Giulia, the Audi Q5, the entire BMW 5 series, the all-new Land Rover Discovery, the Peugeot 3008, the Porsche Panamera, the Suzuki Ignis, the only other micro car, and the Toyota C-HR.
The announcement of the ten finalists for Car of the Year was made earlier this week by the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists at a posh event in Johannesburg. The annual competition is sponsored by Wesbank and runs under the label, the 2018 Wesbank South African Car of the Year.
The Guild said the finalists represent the robust relationship between the South African motor industry, the motoring journalists, the competition itself and the headline sponsor, Wesbank.
Ghana Msibi, the General Manager for Sales and Marketing at WesBank said “Our relationships with the Guild as well as our OEM and dealer partners have been critical for our joint successes, which is why we support and invest in the South African Car Of The Year competition. I would like to thank the Guild and the judging panel for all the hard work as they prepared for the unveiling of the ten finalists.”
Preparations now continue for the Car of the Year evaluation scheduled for late January 2018. During the evaluation, the adjudicators being the journalists of the Guild, have the opportunity to test each vehicle individually at a dedicated testing facility.
The evaluation days offer the jury the opportunity to reacquaint itself with the vehicles on specific criteria including aesthetics, build quality, ergonomics, fuel consumption, environmental friendliness, safety features and value for money.
The jury will also have access to performance test data, comparative pricing and specification data, as well as comparative parts pricing data, compiled by the Guild’s digital partner, MAPO International.
The Car of the Year title will be conferred at an event on 13 March 2018.
