MEDIA AND MASSES CHOOSE THE BEST CARS OF 2018
This year has been a pretty challenging one for the automotive industry. The imposition of additional taxes on automobiles and rising fuel prices saw the industry adjusting to changing customer demand for automotive products.
Notwithstanding these circumstances, the industry remains steadfast in its commitment of producing vehicles of top-notch performance, design and safety features. Present circumstances have even led to the introduction of more fuel-efficient and family-friendly vehicles, reflecting consumer demand amid surging fuel prices and the need to maximize vehicle utility.
Furthermore, there’s still an insatiable design-driven demand for cars, which has led to the introduction of redesigned beloved models that have attracted significant market attention, such as the launch of the new Ford Ranger, Honda Civic Type R, Mitsubishi Strada, Nissan Navara, Suzuki Jimny, Suzuki Swift, Suzuki Vitara and Toyota Vios. Automotive companies also saw increased sales following the launch of entirely new models like the Mitsubishi Xpander, Nissan Terra, Suzuki Dzire and Toyota Rush.
TOYOTA, LEXUS WENT BIG
With launch after launch of new vehicles and redesigned models, which of them reigned supreme in the hearts of the motoring public and the motoring media this year? This is the question that the annual Auto Focus People’s Choice and Media’s Choice Awards aims to answer.
Organized by Sunshine Television, the production company behind the celebrated motoring TV show Auto Focus, the Auto Focus People’s Choice and Media’s Choice Awards give recognition to the car brands and models from both the standard and luxury categories that have been deemed most outstanding through a nationwide public poll and through a rigorous evaluation and selection process by members of the motoring media.
This year is the 14th staging of the annual awards event, with the wellattended awards night held on Oct. 18 at the Valle Verde Country Club in Pasig City. In the People’s Choice Awards, nine cars were feted with small piston trophies in the nine award categories, while two cars were bestowed with big piston trophies in the Automobile of the Year for the standard and luxury categories.
As with previous stagings of the awards, Toyota and Lexus once again emerged victorious in both the standard and luxury categories, with the Toyota Wigo being named Sedan of the Year and Standard Automobile of the Year, while the Lexus NX300 being named the Luxury SUV/Crossover of the Year and Luxury Automobile of the Year.
Last year, the two companies also topped Peoples’ Choice Awards, with
the Toyota Fortuner and the Lexus RX350 taking home the Automobile of the Year awards for both the standard and luxury categories for the third year in a row.
The two companies also brought home several awards in the Media’s Choice Awards. For Toyota, the Wigo was named as having the Best Value for Money among standard mini sedans, while the Camry was deemed as having the Best Value for Money among standard midsize sedans. The Land Cruiser 200, meanwhile, was named the luxury large SUV with the Best Value for Money, while the Alphard was selected as having the Best Design among luxury vans.
Lexus dominated the Best Value for Money in the luxury category, with the IS350 being named best compact sedan, the LS500 being hailed as the best large sedan, and the NX300 being acclaimed as the best compact SUV.
Lexus Manila president Raymond Rodriguez gushed at his company’s repeat win in the annual awards and said, “We at Lexus are thankful to the motoring public who voted for our products. Their continuous trust in our brand has inspired us to further improve the quality of our products and better serve our customers. The years 2015, 2016 and 2017 have been great to us and most especially this 2018, Lexus came out to be triumphant again so thank you very much to all.”
He added that the luxury car company will be launching quite a number of new models, especially the new ES series, which it hopes would be in the running again in next year’s race.
New cars achieve automotive lore
Two car companies, Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. and Honda Cars Philippines, also garnered huge wins in the awards event as two of their cars entered the hallowed Hall of Fame of the competition following their fifth consecutive win. The Mitsubishi Montero Sport entered the Hall of Fame after being named the Best SUV/ Crossover in the standard category of the People’s Choice awards. It was joined by the Honda Odyssey, which was named Best Luxury Van/MPV.
Aside from having inductees in the Hall of Fame of the People’s Choice Awards, the two car companies also received a number of accolades in the Media’s Choice Awards. Mitsubishi clinched trophies in the Best Design for MPV (Xpander) and Best Engine Performance for Large SUV (Pajero). Likewise, Honda received trophies in the Best Design and Best Engine Performance for a Sports Car (Civic Type R) and Best Engine Performance for a mini sedan (Brio).
Elated by the public and media affirmation for its cars, Honda Cars Philippines division head for sales Atty. Louie Soriano remarked, “We just would like to thank the organizing committee of this Auto Focus Choice Awards. This is going to serve as an inspiration for Honda Cars Philippines to create and deliver more quality products to our customers. Whenever we launch a new model, we always make sure that we excite the market.”
small victories celebrated
Aside from major winners, several car companies also had a number of trophy hauls at the awards event.
BMW Philippines president Spencer Yu felt glad that the BMW 5 series was selected by the motoring media as having the Best Design, Engine Performance and Value for Money among luxury midsize sedans. He was also grateful for the recognition given to the BMW 2 series Grand Tourer as the luxury MPV with the Best Safety Features.
“We are very happy with the outcome of the awards. STV has once again delivered fair, honest and very democratic process of giving out awards. Very big congratulations to Daddy Butch, Gerry, Pinky, Wee, Suzy, Jenny and the whole STV team. This is something we look forward to every year so we can’t wait for 2018,” Yu stated.
Bermaz Auto Philippines (Mazda Philippines) president and CEO Steven Tan was equally elated that the Mazda2 was deemed as having the Best Design and Best Engine performance among subcompact sedans, and the Mazda 6 as having the Best Design among midsize sedans.
“It’s really a huge recognition for Mazda because our cars are well designed, well crafted and well engineered so it got the proper recognition tonight and we’re really happy about that. It’s a good balance between the People’s Choice and the Media’s Choice because they both have different criteria. I think it’s a fair assessment and selection. I look forward to next year because this is a great event and it goes to a tedious work of getting the public and the media to vote for the best cars,” Tan said.
Suzuki Philippines senior auto advertising and PR supervisor Jefferson Lopez also celebrated a surprise victory after the Jimny was recognized as having the Best Value for Money in the subcompact SUV category. The recognition comes in the heels of the recent launch of the new Jimny 2019 at the Philippine International Motor Shows (PIMS).
“We are really proud of the recognition because it is a testament of how our media friends love the Jimny. I know that everyone is anticipating the new Jimny that was launched by our global company. When this product becomes available in the Philippines, we anticipate the same response as with the previous Jimnys. Definitely, Suzuki will be coming out with new innovative and value-packed products by next year,” Lopez said.
The results of this year’s People’s Choice and Media’s Choice Awards were the products of a long and tedious process that took months to complete. For the People’s Choice Awards, the results were gathered from a combination of vehicle sales data (20 percent), supplied by the Land Transportation Office through its official IT provider STRADCOM, and nationwide online polling (80 percent). As for the Media’s Choice Awards, esteemed members of the motoring beat nominated, evaluated and selected the winners based on Design, Engine Performance, Safety Features and Value for Money.