Power Wheels Magazine A Notch Above
A proud partner of Manila International Auto Show (MIAS) for the past several years, the Car Awards Group, Inc. (CAGI) proudly showcased the 2015 Car of the Year and 2015 Truck of the Year at the recently concluded 2016 MIAS.
In a strong field of over sixty cars, the Mazda 2 Skyactiv R 4-door sedan emerged triumphant. A strong blend of performance, driving excitement and refinement marked the car’s triumph, the latest in a long line of Mazdas to dominate at the awards.
Judges were particularly impressed by the new Skyactiv package, which gave the 2 performance comparable to more powerful competitors without sacrificing fuel economy.
The Nissan NP300 Navara 2.5L 4×2 EL 7AT Calibre, on the other hand, grabbed the coveted Truck of the Year award. A blend of luxury, ride comfort and impressive engine performance earned it a win against a strong field reinvigorated by a number of new entries in the truck market.
The Navara’s new coil-spring rear suspension was a major talking point, and did indeed seem to provide the edge in terms of ride comfort compared to more traditional leaf-sprung competitors.
Since its incorporation, the Car Awards Group, Inc., has played host to the Car of the Year – Philippines (COTY-P) and more recently, the Truck of the Year – Philippines (TOTY-P) making the country one of the select few with its own national Car of the Year title. This annual awards event represents the culmination of months of preparation. Hundreds of man-hours of testing and evaluation go into the qualitative and technical testing of dozens of vehicles each year.
For the 2015 season, CAGI partnered up with the prestigious firm KPMG in order to refine its testing and scoring processes. Going beyond the traditional third-party auditing of the results, an audit of the process itself helped to further improve the way COTY-P and TOTY-P were scored.
Unlike other awards based on purely on votes or popularity, both the COTY-P and TOTY-P are characterised by a direct comparison of all competing vehicles. Dozens of judges and testers from various motoring media outlets drive these cars back-to-back, scoring them using evaluation instruments refined over the years, in order to give the most fair and unbiased opinion possible. This scoring is kept anonymous, allowing judges to vote without influence or bias.
Qualitative scoring codifies formerly subjective areas into formal fields for direct comparison, and takes into account not just traditional areas like comfort, space and ergonomics, but also recognizes new buyer demands for more technology, such as next-generation in-car entertainment systems and active safety technology.
Technical testing measures vehicle performance in various fields, including: acceleration, braking and handling. These are deemed important in the function and operational safety of each vehicle, minimizing the amount of time spent in harm’s way in case of emergencies. Furthermore, all Truck of the Year contenders are evaluated based on an expanded set of functional parameters, meant to reflect their dual-purpose as both family vehicles and business workhorses.
Taken all together, this provides the motoring public a glimpse into what the motoring media consider the best of the best in any given year, helping them to make informed buying decisions. This also feeds back to the manufacturers, helping them in their quest to provide ever-better and higher quality products to their customers. And in partnership with MIAS, CAGI aims to reach as much of the motoring public as possible with this message.