THIS year saw top quality entrants participating in the prestigious South African Car of the Year (COTY) competition.
COTY jurors selected 25 semi-finalists from more than 49 entrants with some hotly contended category rivalries.
“Although we saw the competition develop and grow over the past 36 years with introducing category winners, additional categories, automated scoring, the public’s favourite and Juror’s Excellence Award, one thing did not change – the exceptional contenders and their proud makers,” said chairman of the South African Guild of Mobility Journalists, Carl Wepener.
After a four-week scoring process, the superb Toyota Corolla Cross was voted the South African Car of the Year.
The Mercedes Benz C-Class won this year’s prestigious Juror’s Excellence Award.
Introduced in 2021, the award is particularly impressive as it only considers the raw scoring of the expert jurors without automated scoring factors.
The overall winner includes additional scoring criteria like sales, segment share and spec-adjusted pricing.
The category winners for this year’s competition are:
Compact Category: Toyota Urban Cruiser
Compact Family Category:
Midsize Category: Mercedes Benz C-Class
Performance Category: Volkswagen Golf GTI
New-energy Category: Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid
Adventure SUV Category: Toyota Landcruiser 300
Double Cab 4×4 Category: Nissan Navara
The public has become more involved in the COTY scoring/voting process over the last four years via social media.
Two years ago, the Motor Enthusiasts Choice Category was introduced. A social media blitz lasting six weeks saw the vehicle the public responded to the most in a hotly contended all-out popularity contest. It was not an easy battle, but the Peugeot 208 beat out stiff competition to take the win.
