ICOTY or Indian Car of The Year, which came into being in 2005, has concluded its jury round for the year 2019. This year the jury not only voted for the coveted ICOTY, but also for a new award under the aegis of ICOTY called the Premium Car Award. While the ICOTY only considers new cars that are manufactured or assembled in India, the contenders for the Premium Car Award could be CBUs or completely built imports as well.
Now, there’s no price criteria for ICOTY, but the Premium Car Award only considers cars with a price tag of over Rs 40 lakhs ex-showroom. However, in both cases, for a car to be considered, it must be on sale in showrooms before November 30.
This year the short list for the ICOTY 2019 included everything from full-sized SUVs to MPVs to sedans and affordable hatchbacks. These were - the Honda Amaze, the Honda CR-V, the Hyundai Santro, the Mahindra Alturas G4, the Mahindra Marazzo, the Maruti Suzuki Swift, the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, and the Toyota Yaris.
The shortlist for the Premium Car Award, meanwhile, was equally diverse, but a bit longer. It included the Q5 and the RS5 from Audi, the X3, the 6 Series GT, and the Mini Countryman from BMW, and the XC40 and the XC60 from Volvo. In addition, there was the Range Rover Velar, the Lexus ES300H, the Mercedes-AMG E63, and the Porsche Cayenne.
The ICOTY jury includes representatives from nine member magazines, and two jurors in their individual capacities. Voting for the final contenders was based on a number of parameters including styling, comfort, price, fuel efficiency, practicality, technical innovation, safety, features, performance, value for money and suitability for Indian consumers and driving conditions.
An ICOTY juror must work with 25 points, which he / she must award to a minimum of five cars with a maximum top score of 10 points for any one of the finalists. The winner of ICOTY 2019 and for the Premium Car Award will be announced on the 20th of December.
