And the winner is...

Presenting the Business Standard Motoring Awards 2004

You might have read it in Business Standard yesterday, and even if you've not, the pictures and the captions make it rather obvious.

Yes, the top honour this year goes to the new Honda City; it is indeed the Business Standard Motoring Car Of The Year 2004.

Two other awards go to two significant cars. The Chevrolet Forester is the Business Standard Motoring Import Car Of The Year 2004, while the Suzuki Grand Vitara XL-7 wins the Business Standard Motoring Jury Award 2004.

If you think it was obvious who the winners would be, perish the thought, because we ourselves were not certain till the last moment.

We had to wait till all the numbers rated by the jury were crunched and the proper weightages assigned to arrive at the winners. Yet, unlike previous years, this year's selection was quite tough, yet easy.

Easy because we could do away with the innumerable variants including engine options, facelifts and upgrades  since we consider only all-new cars launched in a calendar year.

So major upgraded launches like the Mercedes-Benz S 350 L, Hyundai Santro Xing, Ford Ikon 1.3 NXT, Fiat Palio 1.9 D, Fiat Adventure 1.9 D, Maruti Zen Carbon/Steel and the Tata Safari Petrol and the facelifted Maruti-Suzuki Wagon R and New Zen were not in the reckoning.

The Opel Corsa Sail, similarly, was just a hatchback variant of the Corsa, while on the other hand, the Tata Indigo was a three-box variant of the Indica  with due respect to engineers who spent hours fine-tuning all-new rear suspension gear for it. If we had a category for the most VFM three-box variant, the Indigo would have won it.

Sadly, we don't. That left the field open to the Honda City, Honda Accord, Chevrolet Optra and Toyota Corolla for qualifying for the Car Of The Year (COTY) 2004 Award.

One more contender would have been the Ford Endeavour, but we couldn't include it because though we have driven it, Ford has not yet readied proper test cars, let alone production cars.

But let's start with the CBUs first, and then move on to how the City grabbed the COTY award.

As for the Import Car Of The Year 2004 Award, the list was scintillating. Apart from the Chevrolet Forester, we had the Suzuki Grand Vitara XL-7, Opel Vectra, Mercedes-Benz SL 500, Hyundai Terracan and Honda CR-V in the fray. Each one with individual strengths, which meant a closely-fought battle.

The Business Standard Motoring Import Car Of The Year Award is given to one significant car that has been brought into India as a CBU model, and it is a recognition of the fact that manufacturers now have the opportunity to bring in the best products from their international portfolio into the country.

These cars may not sell in large numbers but it helps raise the overall awareness of prospective car buyers when it comes to state-of-the-art technology.

For example, safety features such as stability control systems, ABS and airbags come standard in these cars and it won't be long before Mr Mehta, walking into a showroom, demands similar fare in the small sedan or hatch he is about to buy.

Of the five CBU units listed above, there was one car that won the hearts of the jury  even the formidable Mercedes-Benz SL 500 had to make way for the Chevrolet Forester.

We just loved it, especially the way its all-wheel drive system made short work of both on- and off-road terrain. For an SUV, its on-road habits were impeccable, while on rough sections, it could match the best of veteran off-roaders. Not just that.

The Forester's build quality is a classic example of how beautifully the Japanese manufacture cars (it's a badge-engineered Subaru, remember?), and the best place to be in it was the driver's seat  it provides fantastic driving involvement.

Its active and passive safety features and a timely price correction helped it along too. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the Business Standard Motoring Import Car Of The Year 2004, the Chevrolet Forester!

The Business Standard Motoring Jury Award goes to one significant car that stands apart from the rest of the cars launched in a calendar year.

Amongst all the models in contention  not just imports  another SUV, the Suzuki Grand Vitara XL-7, impressed the jury. It offers brilliant and refined V6 performance and the 4x4 sticker is there for a purpose. Many would not take an expensive import off-roading, but if they do, the Grand Vitara is a fine automobile to do that in.

But these are only minor reasons why the Grand Vitara received the jury's vote. The main reason the Suzuki Grand Vitara XL-7 won the Business Standard Motoring Jury Award 2004 is the fact that the nation's largest car maker has effectively proved that the Maruti-Suzuki brand can straddle two extremes, from a tiny 800 CC commuter to this, a large V6-powered flagship. Congratulations, Maruti-Suzuki!

Finally, we come to the top honours, the Business Standard Motoring Car Of The Year 2004 nominations. As mentioned earlier, the final contenders were the Honda Accord, Honda City, Toyota Corolla and the Chevrolet Optra. And each one of them was a potential winner.

To find out, we collected these cars again (though we had evaluated them separately) and thrashed them over a variety of terrain  including expressways, mountain roads and a super-special rally stage. However, the exclusive Business Standard Motoring rating evaluations has an inbuilt weightage system that gives an advantage to the car which is most fuel-efficient and the most reasonably priced (these are two most important factors for the Indian car buyer).

Along with Fuel Efficiency and Price, the other factors considered are Performance, Subjective ratings and Features.

Which meant that though the new Honda Accord is a brilliant car across all aspects, its price tag took it out of reckoning not its fault, just that the other contenders were from lower price segments altogether.

So the biggest battle was between the other three sedans, the Optra, Corolla and the City.

General Motors India has ensured that the Optra is packed with goodies and more, and offers the entire package at a very pocket-friendly price point.

Besides this, the Optra comes with decent performance as well. Yet, it falls short of the mark, losing points in our Subjective parameters (especially drivetrain).

But that does not take credit away from GMI; they have produced a well-built and good looking car which offers real value-for-money. But that's just not enough for the jury.

Toyota's legendary Corolla had all the makings of a winner. Its performance from that VVT-i engine is sublime, and it was rated fairly well by the jury when it came to Subjective aspects and features.

And it was not all that bad when it came to fuel efficiency as well. What goes against the Corolla is its price, since the value a customer gets from a car is the most critical thing that drives car sales in India.

Sorry, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, the Corolla is indeed an awesome car, but this year there is another car that offers a lot more for less money.

Which means, ladies and gentlemen, it's the new Honda City, which wins despite the odds stacked against it.

The new car does not connote performance motoring any more, nor does it cater to the premium end of the market. The new City ends up being a completely different animal to the one it replaces.

But then, it slowly and eventually worked its way up to the top of the charts and into the jury's hearts... except in Performance ratings, that is. Let's face it, the new City's performance is nothing to write home about. But that is the only serious factor going against it, not much else.

The new City is brilliant to look at, a lot of thought has gone into creating it from a clean sheet, its build quality is exemplary, its ride quality is mature and takes into consideration Indian terrain.

Its ergonomics are bang-on, it offers plenty of living space inside despite being a smaller car, and is loaded with a host of thoughtful features.

But what ultimately nudges the new Honda City to the pinnacle are two all-important factors... you guessed it, Price and Fuel efficiency. Its astounding fuel sipping habits and a very approachable price tag, especially for a premium brand like Honda, wins the day for Honda Siel Cars India.

So ladies and gentlemen, we present the Business Standard Motoring Car Of The Year 2004, the new Honda City! Let the celebrations begin!

METHODOLOGY

The eligible candidates were rated on 21 automotive-testing parameters classified across five categories; Performance, Subjective, Features, Fuel Efficiency and Price.

Each parameter was weighted as per its importance and a total of 500 points was divided into these five categories, based on their relative utility.

Accordingly, four Performance parameters were weighted at 25 points each 100 points total. Ten Subjective utilities were allotted 15 points each  150 points total, and five individual passenger comfort-related Features took 20 points each  100 points.

Since Fuel Efficiency and Price are the most important factors governing automotive purchase in our country, they receive heavy weightages at 25 and 125 points respectively.

The actual performance of each car tested was compared to a benchmark with more points being awarded, the closer the car was to the benchmark.

The standard for fuel efficiency was set at 15 kpl, and the price mark was Rs 6 lakh ex-showroom Mumbai. Business Standard Motoring's exclusive formula awarded maximum points for the price closest to the benchmark.

Test data and objective observation (Performance, Fuel Efficiency and Features) were accorded more importance  which is why they constitute 45 per cent of the total points, while Subjective parameters accounted for 30 per cent.

The price took the leftover 25 per cent of the total score. Points allotted to each contender based on this scheme decided the Business Standard Motoring Car Of The Year 2004.

B G Shirsat,

Business Standard Research Bureau