South African Guild of Motoring Journalists elected the Mazda2 1,5 as 2008’s Car of the Year. The large gathering at the glitzy event consisted of CEOs of all major motor companies, motor industry representatives and journalists.
The shocking and amazing part is that it came ahead of the Mercedes-Benz C220 CDI, Lexus LS 460 and even the Land Rover Freelander 2.2 TD4 HSE!!
The annual competition is happening for the 23rd time. The 2 is a popular car in SA and only recently, won in the best light car category in CAR Magazine’s annual Top 12 Best Buys.
The Mazda2 is credited with impressing even the harsh Jeremy Clarkson. It is by far one of the safest cars to travel in as it attained maximum 5 Euro NCAP stars. It looks cute, it is light in weight hence easy to handle, and the frugal gasoline engine is easy on your pocket. The 1.3 is offered along side the 1.5 variant in South Africa and this award adds to the mighty brand image of Mazda in that country.
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Even if I do not understood how could the Mazda2 overtook a model like Mercedes C-Class it really happened: Mazda2 won the title of World Car of the Year! Initially there was a list of 39 entries and only three were selected for the big final: Mazda2, Mercedes C-Class and Ford Mondeo.
Based on the recommendations of a design panel consisting of four highly respected world design experts, the Mazda2 was also voted by the jurors onto the short-list of top three design finalists, together with the Audi R8 and Volvo C30.
Another winners: World Green Car of the Year goes to BMW 118d with Efficient Dynamics; World Performance Car of the Year and World Car Design of the Year - Audi R8 (finally some justice!).
Press release after the jump.
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The 2008 World Car of the Year award winners will be announced on March 20 at the New York International Auto Show. And here are the top ten finalist:
World Car - Top Ten Finalists:
Click for the 2008 World Performance Car and 2008 World Green Car top 10 finalists.
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The natural gas-powered Civic GX, stood first in the list of American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) ’Greenest Vehicles of 2008’. The Civic GX wins this award for the fifth consecutive year making it the most eco-friendly car available to the public. Three other Honda vehicles that featured in the list were the gasoline powered Civic, Fit and Civic Hybrid, which made up one-third of the cars.
Introduced in 1998, the Civic GX, is the cleanest internal combustion vehicle certified by the EPA, and is 90% cleaner than the average gasoline-powered car on the road today. Equipped standard with a 5-speed automatic transmission, its 1.8-liter, 4-cylinder engine delivers 113 horsepower and 109 ft-lbs of torque while meeting federal Tier 2-Bin 2 and ILEV zero evaporative emission certification standards and carries the "Cleanest on Earth" title.
"Honda continues to set the standard for socially and environmentally-responsible automotive products and our commitment to alternative fuels will further expand with the zero emissions FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle coming to market this summer," stated John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda.
The entire list of eco-friendly winners for 2008:
HONDA CIVIC GX
TOYOTA PRIUS
HONDA CIVIC HYBRID
SMART FORTWO CONVERTIBLE / COUPE
TOYOTA YARIS
NISSAN ALTIMA HYBRID
TOYOTA COROLLA 1.8L
MINI COOPER / CLUBMAN
FORD FOCUS
TOYOTA CAMRY HYBRID
HONDA CIVIC
HONDA FIT
.
Jaguar’s new XF has claimed top prize – the highly respected ’Car of the Year’ award – at the 2008 What Car? awards in London last night. The XF also took top place in the ’Best Executive Car’ category, ahead of the BMW 5 Series and the
Mercedes CLS
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ROAD & TRAVEL Magazine (RTM) announced its 12th Annual International Car of the Year Awards (ICOTY) winners at a black tie ceremony today. Held at the MGM Grand Detroit, RTM hosted more than 600 industry leaders and media on the eve of press week of the North American International Auto Show.
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A little surprise this morning for the car of the year, as the Cadillac CTS did not win it, but don’t worry it stays domestic with the other GM flagship, the Chevrolet Malibu.
The Truck winner was a no brainer, already nominated in half of the car magazines, the Mazda CX-9:
In 2007 there were lots and lots of debuts! And we are sure you know them all. We will try to make a short list of what we consider to be the best cars of 2007, or, in another words, how the TopSpeed’s dream garage will look like with cars unveiled in 2007.
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The 2008
Toyota Tundra was named Motor’s Trend Truck of the year winning in front if cars like
Ford F-150,
Chevrolet Silverado or Dodge RAM. After days of testing, Motor Trend comes to a conclusion: "The new
Toyota Tundra is now ready to take on any American-made pickup truck — on all leve
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Winners of the North American car of the year title will be announced on Jan. 13, the first press preview day of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. They will be chosen from:
Cadillac CTS,
Chevrolet Malibu and
Honda Accord for cars and
Buick Enclave,
Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid and
Mazda CX-9 for the trucks section.
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