Hyundai Venue wins Indian Car of the Year 2020

Hyundai Venue is the Indian Car of the Year or the ICOTY for 2020.  ICOTY is often referred to as the ‘Oscar’ of Indian car awards, and rightly so, given it is the most sought-after accolade when it comes to four wheels. Moreover, to win the ICOTY, a car must do more than just deliver a value proposition. It must be well-suited for the Indian market in more ways than one, and that includes comfort, performance, fuel efficiency, and most of all, it must score high on fitness of purpose and setting new benchmarks.

The jury for the ICOTY, which comprises of senior automotive journalists from various magazines, newspapers and established online portals, considers these very aspects and then votes on the shortlist. This year’s shortlist included the This year, the shortlist included the Honda Civic, the Hyundai Grand i10 Nios and the Venue, the Kia Seltos, the Maruti Suzuki S-Presso and Wagon R, the MG Hector, the Nissan Kicks, the Renault Triber and the Tata Harrier. One of the conditions for the jury to be able to vote for a particular car is its presence at the jury round. This year, the jury round took place at the Buddh International Circuit.

This year's ICOTY jury, meanwhile, consisted of Rahul Ghosh and Yogendra Pratap from Auto Today, Dhruv Bhel and Ishan Raghava from autoX, Muralidhar S from the Hindu, Aspi Bhathena and Sarmad Kadiri from Car India, Sirish Chandran and Aniruddha Rangnekar from evo, Kartik Ware and Pablo Chatterjee from Motoring World, Bertrand D’souza and Rohit Paradkar from Overdrive, Kushan Mitra from Pioneer, Girish Karkera from GQ, and Vikrant Singh from CarWale.

Additionally, ICOTY joined hands with Grant Thornton as the award validation partner for this year’s award. Representatives from the agency collected the scoring sheets during the jury round, tabulated the points and ensured complete secrecy by presenting the envelope with the winner's name only on the awards ceremony night.

The award was presented by Dr. Raghupati Singhania, Chairman & Managing Director, JK Tyre & Industries Limited on behalf of the ICOTY committee.