At the media day at the Montreal International Auto Show last Thursday, the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) announced the top three finalists in three overall award categories for the Canadian Car of the Year. This prestigious honour is highly coveted by manufacturers hoping to gain a competitive edge as 2012 car sales ramp up. Eleven category winners were eligible for the top honours after being announced last October during the association’s annual “TestFest”.
Hyundai Auto Canada won three of the eleven categories while BMW Group Canada, Kia Canada and Mercedes-Benz Canada each garnered double wins. Other category winners were Chrysler Canada and Volkswagen Canada.
The finalist are as follows:
2012 Canadian Car of the Year:
Hyundai Accent
Hyundai Elantra
Kia Optima
2012 Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year:
BMW X3
Dodge Journey
Volkswagen Touareg TDI Clean Diesel
2012 Best New Design:
Hyundai Veloster
Jaguar XKR-S
Range Rover Evoque
The three winners will be declared at approximately 8:20 a.m. on Thursday, February 16th at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto.
Eleven category winners were eligible for the top honours after being announced last October during the association’s annual “TestFest”. Hyundai Auto Canada won three of the eleven categories while BMW Group Canada, Kia Canada and Mercedes-Benz Canada each garnered double wins. Other category winners were Chrysler Canada and Volkswagen Canada.
Seventy of Canada’s top automotive journalists spent four intensive days in Niagara-on-the-Lake conducting back-to-back comparative testing of 170 “all new” or “significantly new” 2012 vehicles. This was no easy task. Their vote results were determined from more than 40,000 individual data points established in the testing program. That information includes not just specifications and features but actual performance data and subjective ratings on up to 23 different characteristics – from interior roominess and comfort to ride quality and handling ability. Shell Canada is the official fuel supplier of the event.
The seventy journalists are all members of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) whose primary purpose is to provide consumers with sound, objective, comparative data for use as a resource buying guide when considering the purchase of a new car, truck of SUV/CUV.
The journalists’ vote results were compiled on-site by the international accounting firm KPMG and kept confidential even from AJAC until the winners’ press conference. KPMG will return on February 16th at the Toronto show with four envelopes that announce the overall winners: the 2012 Canadian Car of the Year, 2012 Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year, 2012 Best New Design and the 2012 Best New Technology award, presented by Shell Canada.
For more information on the 2012 Canadian Car of the Year Awards visit: www.ajac.ca
