ICOTY/IMOTY
The best bike and car awarded
The Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) 2018 was announced at a glitzy and fun-filled award ceremony in Delhi. On behalf of the jury of ICOTY 2017, Dr. Raghupati Singhania, Chairman and Managing Director, JK Tyre & Industries Limited handed over the Indian Car of the Year trophy to Y.K. Koo, MD & CEO- Hyundai Motor India Ltd for the Hyundai Verna. The Chairman of the ICOTY Jury Bob Rupani, presented team Hyundai, a winner’s certificate signed by all jury members’ of ICOTY 2018. In the closest contest experienced by the ICOTY jury yet, Hyundai Verna emerged the winner with 118 points and the runner up was the Maruti Suzuki Dzire with a score of 117, just one solitary point behind. The Jeep Compass clinched the third spot with 87 points.
Being the 13th edition of the ICOTY, the awards has emerged as the most sought after auto awards in the country. Almost 16 new cars launched in 2017 qualified for this award, of which nine made it to the final jury round. The top nine finalist contenders were the Honda WR-V, Hyundai Verna, Jeep Compass, Maruti Suzuki Dzire, Maruti Suzuki Ignis, Renault Captur, Skoda Kodiaq, Tata Nexon and Volkswagen Tiguan.
ICOTY 2018 had the maximum number of jury
HYUNDAI VERNA EMERGED AS THE WINNER AND MARUTI SUZUKI DZIRE WAS THE RUNNER UP
Members till date and these included Yogendra Pratap and Rahul Ghosh ( Auto Today), Dhruv Behl and Ishan Raghava ( Auto X), Aspi Bhathena and Sarmad Kadri ( Car India), Sirish Chandran and Aninda Sardar (Evo India), Kartik Ware and Raunak Ajinkya ( Motoring World), Bob Rupani and Rohit Paradkar ( Overdrive), Girish Karkera and Agasti Kaulgi ( Top Gear), Muralidhar Swaminathan ( The Hindu Business Line), Pablo Chaterji ( Man’s World) and Vikrant Singh and Hani Musthafa. Nine very prestigious publications were represented on the ICOTY 2018 Jury.
This specialist jury consisting of 18 senior Indian automotive journalists is easily the largest such jury in the country. This biggest ever jury included the best from the industry and together they have almost 300 years of car evaluation experience. The jury is known for their analytical skills and competence in evaluating and testing cars, as a part of their profession. The highly experienced jury members are responsible for selecting a single decisive winner and the voting process has been designed to be very fair and unbiased and tamper proof. It is because of this that, the ICOTY trophy is the one every manufacture wants to win. The ICOTY
award is in line with international standards and modeled on the American Car of the Year, European Car of the Year and Japanese Car of the Year. The eligible cars are judged on various parameters such as price, fuel efficiency, styling, comfort, safety, features, performance, practicality, technical innovation, value for money and above all suitability for Indian consumers and driving conditions.
On the other hand, the prestigious Indian Motorcycle of the Year (IMOTY) 2018 went to KTM 390 Duke. The IMOTY 2018 marks the 11th year of this celebrated award, which has received unconditional support from its sponsors JK Tyres, right from its inception.
Dr. Raghupati Singhania conferred Amit Nandi, Head, KTM India with the coveted trophy on behalf of the distinguished IMOTY jury. While, Aspi Bhathena, Chairman, IMOTY and Editor, Bike India presented a certificate signed by the entire IMOTY 2018 jury to the winner.
Out of about 20 new motorcycles that were launched in 2017, only 12 made it to the jury round. These motorcycles similarly were judged across a variety of parameters such as styling, value for money, technical innovation, build quality, fuel economy, performance, practicality, and above all, suitability for Indian riding conditions.
The final shortlist consisted of KTM 390 Duke, Yamaha FZ25, Triumph Street Triple followed by Honda Africa Twin and Bajaj Dominar. The KTM zipped past competition to clinch the top honour this year riding on its appealing style, quality parts and segment defying performance—offered at a surprisingly affordable price.
Jury members for IMOTY include 16 of India’s renowned auto journalists namely Aspi Bhathena and Sarmad Kadiri from Bike India, Shubhabrata Marmar and Abhay Verma of Overdrive, Kartik Ware and Raunak Ajinkya of Motoring World, Sirish Chandran and Aninda Sardar from Evo India, Pablo Chaterji of Man’s World India, Arup Das and Jared Solomon of AutoX, Rahul Ghosh and Abhik Das of Auto Today, Devesh Shobha and Debabrata Sarkar of Top Gear India, and Vikrant Singh.