Twelve finalists of the South African Car of the Year contest are ready to battle it out for the crown.
The vehicles come from Italy, Japan, Korea, Germany, France and Sweden. Suzuki is the only represented manufacturer with two contestants in the running.
Representing the best of budget models available locally are the Suzuki Swift, the Nissan Micra and the Renault Duster.
The four luxury vehicles are the Alfa Romeo Stelvio, Lexus ES, Volvo XC40 and Porsche Cayenne.
The sportiest contestants are the Honda Civic Type R, the impressive new Mercedes-Benz A-Class, Hyundai’s quirky new Kona crossover and the new, rugged Mitsubishi Pajero Sport.
The judges do have their work cut out for them when it comes to evaluating the finalists against each other.
The 25 jurors will be given the opportunity to drive all the finalist vehicles over the next three months. They have to test the vehicles individually under normal driving conditions which are experienced by the average consumer.
The final Car Of The Year evaluation will be held in Gauteng in March next year. The final test allows judges the opportunity to change their minds on their initial assessments.
The most critical of the assessments is scheduled to be held at Kyalami. At the race track, each member of the jury tests the cars independently, with custom instructions for each vehicle’s test.
The jurors also have double check performance data, compare prices and specification data, as well as comparative parts pricing data. The winner will be chosen in April.
The finalists
- Alfa Romeo Stelvio
- Honda Civic Type R
- Hyundai Kona
- Lexus ES
- Mercedes-Benz A-Class
- Mitsubishi Pajero Sport
- Nissan Micra
- Porsche Cayenne
- Renault Duster
- Suzuki Jimny
- Suzuki Swift
- Volvo XC40
