Share

Shock result for Coty contest

The winner of the 2011 SA Guild of Motoring Journalists' Car of the Year title has been announced in Johannesburg.

And it was... well, two cars tied for the first time in the long history of the competition - the VW Polo 1.6 TDI and BMW's 530d. Which was a rather unsatisfactory end to the long process and will no doubt cause much controversy over coming weeks.

VW won the competition outright in 2010 with its Golf 1.4 TSi Comfortline. BMW has won five times, 1988 with its 735i, 1990 with the 525i, 1993 with the 316i, 1997 with the 528i and 2001 with its 320d.

VW won previously in 2003 (Polo TDi) and in 2010 (Golf 1.4 TSi Comfortline).

The 10 finalists for the 2011 South Africa’s Car of the Year honours were announced in October 2010 but the final judging took place only in February this year with two days of testing at the Gerotek vehicle testing centre, west of Pretoria.

THREE DAYS TO VOTE

The judges, all motoring journalists of long standing, for the first time relied on their memories of driving the cars either at their launch or in a road test but they also had the opportunity to refresh their thoughts on the various tracks at the vehicle testing centre.

Thereafter they had three days to cast their votes via the internet on a specially created computer program.

All of which replaced what used to be three days of concentrated driving over an identical course involving track and public roads, extended periods of static evaluation and hundreds of ticks in a questionnaire whose data was pooled with that of the other judges to produce a winner.

THE OTHER WINNER: BMW's 530d.


Eight manufacturers were represented among the 10 finalists; Hyundai and VW had two entries each.

The finalists were BMW’s 530d, Citroen’s DS3 1.6 THP Sport, Honda’s CR-Z Hybrid, Kia's Sportage 2.0 CRDi GLS 4x4, Opel's Astra 1.4T and Ford’s Figo 1.4 Ambiente, VW’s Polo 1.6 TDI and Amarok 2.0 BiTDI 4x2 bakkie and Hyundai's iX35 SUV and Sonata sedan.

Strong candidates for the title included VW’s Polo (currently World Car of the Year) and Ford’s high-value Figo, while the Amarok makes a long-overdue case for representation of the bakkie market – a key volume segment in the terms of outright vehicle sales.

Interestingly, the list of candidates included three Korean cars – a state of affairs that would have been unfathomable a decade ago...

Also for the first time, the full list of results was made available. Here it is...

Joint winners: BMW 530d / VW Polo 1.6 TDI 77kW Comfortline - 91 points
3 Ford Figo 1.4 Ambiente - 77
4 Hyundai Sonata 2.4 GLS Exec - 76
5 Kia Sportage 2.0 VGT AWD a/t - 63
6 Citroen DS3 THP 150 Sport - 59
7 Hyundai ix35 2.0 CRDI GLS AWD a/t - 48
8 Opel Astra 1.4T Enjoy Plus - 39
9 Honda CR-Z 1.5i V-Tec - 21
10 VW Amarok 2.0 BiTDI 4x2 Double Cab - 10

A spokesman for the competition, recalling the “hear a pin drop” silence at the Gallagher Estates venue north of Johannesburg after the double-winner announcement and “the unbearable, uncomfortable silence” that  followed, admitted the result was not immediately popular.

Danie van Jaarsveld, chairman of the SA Guild of Motoring Journalists which organises the SA Coty competition, admitted full responsibility for the result but added in a statement issued to guild members: "A great deal has been made of how we, the guild, would embrace accountability and transparency not only in all our processes, but also very specifically in Coty which has seen its credibility coming under increasing scrutiny.

'TIE APPEARED REMOTE'
 
“To this end we designed a process that we believed would yield a respected winner and to obtain the buy-in of the public - something which has been sorely lacking.”

In the end, he added, 23 jury members applied 575 votes over the 10 finalists. “My mathematical skills do not extend to calculating the probability of a tie but it would appear remote. As things turned out, two vehicles produced the only tie in the scores.”

Van Jaarsveld said the Coty rules did not allow (or indeed cater for) a tie and the only possible solution was to have two winners.

Wheels24’s fun ‘Alternative Car of the Year’ winners.
We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE