It was a glitzy and glamorous affair last night as the motoring industry headed to the Vodadome for the announcement of Cars.co.za Consumer Awards 13 best-considered new car purchases in their respective categories of the South African new vehicle market.
WOW editor, Juliet McGuire, was a judge in the 2016/17 Cars.co.za Consumer Awards programme -“ powered by WesBank. What makes this such a credible and influential awards programme is that Cars.co.za Consumer Awards is distinguished by two significant factors: it is backed by the biggest provider of vehicle finance in South Africa and, in conjunction with the 13 judges’ scores, the findings of the Cars.co.za’s Owner Satisfaction Survey (in association with Lightstone Consumer) has a substantial (50%) weighting on the final results, excluding the Brand of the Year award, which is based entirely on the Survey data.
So you want to know who the winners are?
2016/17 Cars.co.za Consumer Awards -“ powered by WesBank winners are:
- Premium Hatchback of the Year: Volkswagen Golf GTI DSG
- First Class Car of the Year: BMW 750Li Design Pure Excellence
- Leisure Double-cab of the Year: Ford Ranger 3.2 Wildtrak 4×4 Auto
- Executive Sedan of the Year: Jaguar XF 25t Portfolio
- Premium SUV of the Year: Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine Inscription
- Business Class of the Year: Audi A4 2.0T FSI Sport S tronic
- Compact Family Car of the Year: Suzuki Vitara 1.6 GL+
- Fun Car of the Year: Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport DSG
- Lifestyle SUV of the Year: Land Rover Discovery Sport TD4 S
- Compact Hatchback of the Year: Opel Corsa 1.0T Enjoy
- Budget Car of the Year: Suzuki Celerio 1.0 GL
- Performance Car of the Year: BMW M2 M-DCT
- Family Car of the Year: Volkswagen Tiguan 1.4 TSI Comfortline DSG
- Brand of the Year: Suzuki
Highlights from the 2016/17 Cars.co.za Consumer Awards -“ powered by WesBank
- Volkswagen dominated with 3 category wins: Premium Hatchback, Family Car and Fun Car
- BMW and Suzuki won two categories each; it was the first awards garnered by the Japanese brand, which also succeeded Toyota as the overall Brand of the Year for 2016/17.
- The Cars.co.za Owner Satisfaction Survey had a big impact on the programme; it determined the final results in three of the categories
- The Volkswagen Golf GTI DSG, Land Rover Discovery Sport and Volvo XC90 defended their titles, although the latter two won with different derivatives than in 2015/16.
- Certificates of merit were awarded to other brands that finished in the Top Five rankings of the Cars.co.za Owner Satisfaction Survey: Audi, BMW, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota.
Visit http://www.carsawards.co.za for more information about the Consumer Awards, including the winners and finalists, and view images of the award recipients that were taken at the event. Also check out the hashtag #CarsAwards across social media and follow Cars.co.za on Twitter and Facebook.
