WOW’s editor selected as guest judge for Cars.co.za Consumer Awards!

As the Cars.co.za Consumer Awards enters its second year, judges (including the public) will look to recognise some of the best derivatives on sale in the new vehicle market.

This follows the success of the previous award season, for which winners were announced earlier this year (14 January 2016).

"It was very encouraging to see the response of the motor industry and the extensive coverage of the first awards programme by the general media," said Cars.co.za Consumer Experience Manager, Hannes Oosthuizen. "It demonstrated that our methodology was regarded as credible and relevant.

"Wesbank finances the majority of private vehicle purchases in South Africa and our awards programme was designed to help consumers make the most considered buying choices right down to specific derivatives-¦ the finance house’s endorsement adds gravitas to our initiative," he adds.

"WesBank is delighted to announce the partnership with Cars.co.za as the headline sponsor of the Consumer Awards,” says Simphiwe Nghona, CEO Wesbank Motor Division.

“We believe that Cars.co.za has a very innovative approach with the programme and innovations resonate very well with WesBank. WesBank is known in the industry as a long term partner and has successfully established Joint Venture arrangements with most of the Original Equipment Manufacturers. WesBank’s success is attributed to these longstanding partnerships and we look forward to the future prospects of the Cars.co.za Consumer Awards -“ powered by WesBank," he adds.

Award categories have been updated to take into consideration new vehicle sales trends to include:

• increased demand for small compact crossovers
• the buying public’s preference for SUVs over sedans and MPVs
• the introduction of several new and facelifted couble-cab bakkies

"The category amendments are based on our analysis of vehicle sales statistics; the majority of the semi-finalists represent the types of vehicles people are buying in respective segments of the market," Oosthuizen says.

WOW editor, Juliet McGuire guest judge!

In a press release Cars.co.za stated that judging methodology has been changed to incorporate more expertise (the extended Cars.co.za editorial team) as well as the recruitment of extra judges from specialist fields. Extra judges include our very own editor, Juliet McGuire of Women on Wheels!

Also read: WOW Car of the Year Awards

The votes cast by the collective judges will have a 50% weighting on the final results of the awards.

"Not only has the editorial team grown from four members to seven, the guest judges (all of which are informed about the vehicle market) have been drawn from a wide variety of fields. Collectively, the judging panel is now more representative and diverse in terms of ages, interests and expertise," he continues.

The Cars.co.za judges

• Ashley Oldfield (Road Test/Technical Editor)
• Ciro de Siena (Manager, Cars.co.za Video)
• David Taylor (Senior Journalist)
• Francisco Nwamba (Contributor)
• Gero Lilleike (Journalist)
• Hannes Oosthuizen (Consumer Experience Manager)
• Mike Fourie (Content Manager)

The guest judges

• Branko Brkic (Founder and Editor -“  The Daily Maverick)
• Eddie Kalili  (Group Motoring Editor -“ Destiny, Destiny Man and Sawubona)
• Juliet McGuire (Editor -“ Women on Wheels)
• Khutso Theledi (YFM presenter/DJ/car spinner)
• Kojo Baffoe (journalist/writer/media strategist)
• Nafisa Akabor (tech journalist and Cars.co.za contributor)
• Wendy Knowler (consumer journalist -“  The Times)

The public will have a bigger impact on the outcome of the awards while the remaining 50% of judging will be based on the findings of Cars.co.za Ownership Satisfaction Survey.  The survey will provide feedback from thousands of South African vehicle owners according to specific criteria.

This multifaceted judging process distinguishes the Cars.co.za Consumer Awards -“ powered by Wesbank from rival programmes. All vehicles sold as new on (or launched in the market by) 1 September 2016 were in contention to be semi-finalists (provided they conformed to their categories’ criteria); therefore, not only newly introduced or general model ranges were considered as potential category winners. Theoretically, if a vehicle is the best in its segment, it can win its category throughout the lifecycle of the product.

Therefore, following the upweighting of the findings of Cars.co.za’s ongoing Ownership Satisfaction Survey in the judging process (compared with the previous programme), the public now has an even bigger impact on the outcome of the Cars.co.za Consumer Awards -“ powered by Wesbank.

"The Cars.co.za Consumer Awards -“ powered by Wesbank is unique in the way that real owner experience with their vehicle brands directly, and significantly, impacts on the results.  No other industry measure blends expert opinion and analysis with consumer experience in this way.  It means that when the winners are announced there is real resonance with public opinion," Lightstone Consumer Chief Executive Paul de Vantier added.