Win-win situation

All the winners from the important Car Of The Year awards from around the globe.

The Fiat 500, the Honda Jazz, the Saturn Aura and the Lexus LS460 have more in common than just four wheels and an engine.

They also happen to be winners of various Car Of The Year (COTY) awards from across the globe. Recipients of four of the most important Car Of The Year awards, they represent the trends in their respective markets as well as the globe.

The European Car of The Year (ECOTY) awards, one of the oldest and most prestigious in the world, has gone through years of tweaks to become one of the best benchmarks for other COTYs across the world. 58 jurors from over 22 European countries voted this year, to select the winner.

According to the ECOTY format, each juror has a maximum of 25 points to allot over the selected final cars (this year it was seven).

The jurors themselves represent some of the seniormost automotive journalists in Europe, who have years of evaluating experience behind their belt. One of the ECOTY precedents has been the high number of small cars that have gone on to win, a clear sign of what Europe perceives as the right car for their markets.

And with Fiat being a small car specialist, one can expect them to have swept the awards, year after year. Not once, not twice, but eight times, a Fiat car has made its mark, making it the winningest brand in the history of ECOTY.

This year, they added the crown to their shelves for the ninth time, with the modern day interpretation of the 500. Winning by a 50 point margin over the Mazda2, the 500 used its dash of charisma and unique design, as well as sound engineering, to bag the award.

The Japanese COTY, on the other hand, is a Japanese manufacturer centric award, with all non-Japanese manufacturers contending for the Import Car Of The Year award.

In a year when the most significant car to come out of Japan is the new Nissan GT-R, the Japanese press and auto experts have voted for the new Honda Jazz instead.

Judged by a 60-member panel, it just managed to nudge out the GT-R and the new Subaru Impreza off the top-step, thanks to the second generation Jazz's intelligent packaging as well as good all-round performance from a small car.

In fact, the first generation Jazz (badged the Fit in Japan) was also the recipient of the award, and in the last 10 years, Honda have managed to score a winning shot five times.

Honda, on the other hand, is a contender for the 2008 North American Car of The Year with the new Accord sedan. In 2007, they didn't launch anything significant, but Saturn did.

The General Motors brand has managed to turn around itself with new cars that have never been this close to the Japanese. The Aura is just one such example. It beat the capable new Toyota Camry and the smart first-gen Honda Fit with its top drawer quality, good engineering attributes and a competitive price-tag.

The 49 jurors helped GM make it a twin success story by awarding the Chevrolet Silverado with the SUV Of The Year tag.

In 2008, GM will once again vie for the crown with the Chevrolet Malibu in one corner and the Cadillac CTS on the other, making the job for the Honda doubly difficult.

But if one were to choose a global COTY, the job gets even tougher. After all, the jurors come from different parts of the world, with differing opinions as well as criteria.

The 50 jury members from 22 countries come together to select a car that must be sold in a minimum specified number of markets. The voting system utilises 20 parameters with a 1 to 10 voting scale for each parameter on a half point increment.

In the first round, the cars are reduced to a list of ten, from which the winner is chosen in the second round, apart from the other additional awards, such as Design Of The Year, the Performance Car Of The Year and World Green Car Of The Year.

Founded in 2004, the awards have so far yielded winners such as the Audi A6 and the BMW 3 Series. This year, it was the Lexus LS460 that climbed to the top. It managed to beat the BMW Mini and the Audi TT by a very small margin.

The flagship of the Lexus range, the LS managed to win over the jury with its technology bits such as the automatic parking system and the efficient eight-speed automatic gearbox as well as the green alternative, the LS600h, that completes the range.

METHODOLOGY

Car Of The Year
The eligible candidates were rated on 21 automotive-testing parameters classified across five categories; Performance, Subjective, Features, Fuel Efficiency (FE) 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 FE 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. The closer a car was to the benchmark, the more points it got. The standard for FE was set at 12 kpl, and the price mark was Rs 5 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, FE 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 2008.