Porsche Panamera, the first four door sports car from the Porsche stable has been awarded the CNBC TV18 OVERDRIVE “Import Car of the Year” and the luxury sports car brand was adjudged the “Most Sporty Brand” by Auto India magazine. Rod Wallace, Managing Director – Precision Cars India Pvt Ltd., the official Porsche importer for India accepted the awards at glittering award ceremonies.
Speaking at the occasion, Mr Wallace said “It is indeed a matter of pride that the Panamera has won an award within 3 months of its launch in India. These awards reflect the growing popularity of the Porsche brand in India and with more dealers opening in 2010, we are confident of healthy growth this year.”
The CNBC TV 18 Overdrive Award was presented by Honorable Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, Omar Abdullah and the eminent jury comprised of Hari Singh, five time Indian National Rally champion; Sirish Chandran, Editor,Overdrive; Bertrand D'Souza, Deputy Editor, Overdrive; Shubhabrata Marmar, Deputy Editor, Overdrive ; Gaurav Gill, Indian National Rally champion, Production WRC driver ; Vikram Mathias, Former National Rally Champion and Siddharth Lal, CEO, Eicher Motors.
The Auto India award was presented by Mr Brahm Dutt, Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highway, Government of India and the winners were selected based on responses of 1400 actual, potential and knowledgeable consumers who gave their views and opinions, through the mind-probing questionnaire published in Auto India and its sister magazine, Business India, over a period of 4 months.
The Panamera had already been awarded the “Das Goldene Lenkrad” (The Golden Steering Wheel) in early November as the “Best New Car of the Year in the Luxury Class”. This prize is awarded by the German Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag together with the car magazine Auto Bild and its European issues.
The Panamera is however a great success not only in Europe, but also with international car journalists the world over, having won a number of international awards recently. In Canada, for example, 70 of the leading car journalists grouped within the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) have chosen the Panamera as the “Best New Prestige Car”. Conducting thorough test drives, the AJAC journalists were thrilled by the Panamera Turbo featuring, among other highlights, the best brakes and the best acceleration ever measured by the AJAC.
Again in Canada, the car journal Le Guide de l’Auto also ranks the Panamera as No 1 in the “Prestige Cars” category.
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In the USA the editors of the online magazine Inside Line have given the Panamera their “Most Wanted Award”. A leading automobile portal reaching more readers each month than subscribe to any car journal, Inside Line highlighted in particular the overall performance of Porsche’s Gran Turismo.
In Great Britain the Panamera has brought home no less than two significant titles, Vehicle Dynamics International lauding Porsche’s new luxury performance model not only as their “Car of the Year”, but also the “Dynamicist of the Year”, with its perfectly engineered chassis delivering an equal share of balance, grip, comfort and control all in one. The same magazine lauded the dynamic engine mounts exclusive to the Porsche 911 GT3 and the new 911 Turbo as their “Innovation of the Year”.
Yet another coveted title awarded to the Panamera is the “Interamerican Car of the Year 2010” proclaimed by the Federación Interamericana de Periodistas del Automóvil (FIPA), an association of 81 Panamerican car journalists from 21 countries. Porsche’s Gran Turismo thrilled these experts in all disciplines such as progressive technology, performance, environmental care, and the significance of the car for each national market. Given these qualities, the Panamera was able to beat a significant line-up of no less than 37 leading automobiles.
For additional information on Porsche, please visit the website www.porscheindia.com