Suzuki SA wins big at Cars Awards

The big winner of the night was Suzuki South Africa, who not only scooped the awards for the Budget Car and Compact Family Car categories, but the coveted title of Brand of the Year. Other honourable mentions go to Volkswagen with three wins and BMW with two.

The award categories were updated this year to take into consideration new vehicle sales trends – such as the increased demand for small/compact crossovers, the buying public's preference for SUVs over sedans and MPVs, as well as the introduction of several new and facelifted double-cab bakkies.

Selection process

This year's judging process incorporated additional expertise from the extended Cars.co.za editorial team, as well as the recruitment of additional guest judges from specialist fields. The votes cast by the judges had a 50% weighting on the final results, while the remaining 50% was based on the findings of the Cars.co.za Ownership Satisfaction Survey, in partnership with data specialists Lightstone Consumer.

According to The data incorporated feedback from thousands of South African vehicle owners, based on their experiences of their vehicles (must be less than five years old and serviced through franchised outlets). All vehicles sold as new on – or launched in the market by – 1 September 2016 were in contention to be semi-finalists provided they conformed to their categories' criteria.

The Cars.co.za judges included Ashley Oldfield, road test/technical editor; Ciro de Siena, manager, Cars.co.za video; David Taylor, senior journalist; Francisco Nwamba, contributor; Gero Lilleike, journalist; Hannes Oosthuizen, consumer experience manager; and Mike Fourie, content manager.

The group of guest judges was made up of Branko Brkic, founder and editor, The Daily Maverick; Eddie Kalili, group motoring editor, Destiny, Destiny Man and Sawubona; Juliet McGuire, editor, Women on Wheels; Khutso Theledi, journalist/presenter/DJ; Kojo Baffoe, journalist/writer/media strategist; Nafisa Akabor, tech journalist and Cars.co.za contributor; and Wendy Knowler, consumer journalist, The Times.

The second phase of the selection process involved the website's editorial team scoring the five semi-finalists in each category to narrow the field of potential award winners from 65 to 39. Following that, the combined judging panel evaluated the finalists back to back during a two-day test.

Congratulations to all the winners...

Budget Car (less than R160,000): Suzuki Celerio 1.0 GL

Compact Hatchback (between R160,000 and R250,000): Opel Corsa 1.0T Enjoy

Compact Family Car (between R250,000 and R350,000): Suzuki Vitara 1.6 GL+

Family Car (between R350,000 and R500,000): VW Tiguan 1.4 TSI Comfortline DSG

Performance Car (between R600,000 and R1,000,000): BMW M2 M-DCT

Premium Hatchback (between R350,000 and R500,000): VW Golf GTI DSG

Fun Car (less than R600,000): VW Golf GTI Clubsport

Lifestyle SUV (between R500,000 and R750,000): Land Rover Discovery Sport TD4 SE

Executive Sedan (between R750,000 and R1,000,000): Jaguar XF 25t Portfolio

First Class (more than R1,000,000): BMW 750Li Design Pure Excellence

Leisure Double Cab (more than R450,000): Ford Ranger 3.2 Wildtrak 4x4 Auto

Business Class (between R500,000 and R750,000): Audi A4 2.0T FSI Sport S tronic

Premium SUV (between R750,000 and R1,200,000): Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine Inscription

Brand of the Year: Suzuki SA

Congrats @Suzuki_ZA - Brand of the Year #CarsAwards pic.twitter.com/v3LSjtIDQI

— Cars.co.za (@CarsSouthAfrica) January 19, 2017

Check out the full list of semi-finalists here.