Maruti Suzuki Swift is the Indian Car of the Year 2019

Maruti Suzuki Swift is the Indian Car of the Year or ICOTY 2019. The Swift had to beat a bunch of strong contenders to win this accolade this year. The other cars in the list included Honda Amaze, Honda CR-V, Hyundai Santro, Mahindra Alturas G4, Mahindra Marazzo, Toyota Yaris, and Swift’s own sibling, the Ertiga. The Hyundai Santro and Honda Amaze finished second and third behind the Swift.

This year the ICOTY jury included Yogendra Pratap (Auto Today), Rahul Ghosh (Auto Today), Dhruv Behl (Auto X), Ishan Raghava  (Auto X), Aspi Bhathena (Car India), Sarmad Kadri (Car India), Sirish Chandran (Evo India), Aninda Sardar (Evo India), Kartik Ware (Motoring World), Raunak Ajinkya (Motoring World), Abhay Verma (Overdrive),  Rohit Paradkar (Overdrive),  Girish Karkera (Top Gear), Agasti Kaulgi (Top Gear), Muralidhar Swaminathan (The Hindu Business Line), Pablo Chaterji (Man’s World), Hani Musthafa (Flywheel) and Vikrant Singh (CarWale).

This specialists' jury consisting of 18 senior Indian automotive journalists is easily the largest such jury in our country and cumulatively, they have almost 300 years of car evaluation experience! The jury is known for their analytical skills and competence in evaluating and testing cars, as a part of their profession. As for the award property itself, ICOTY is in line with international standards and is modeled along the lines of the American Car of the Year, European Car of the Year and Japanese Car of the Year.

On behalf of the esteemed Jury of ICOTY 2019, Dr. Raghupati Singhania, Chairman and Managing Director, JK Tyre & Industries Limited handed over the Indian Car of the Year trophy to Kenichi Ayukawa, MD and CEO, Maruti Suzuki. The Chairman of the ICOTY Jury, Yogendra Pratap, meanwhile, presented a winners certificate signed by all ‘Jury Members’ of ICOTY 2019 to Maruti.

 This was the 14th edition of the ICOTY, which has emerged as the most honest and desired auto award and is now considered the ‘Oscar’ of Indian automotive awards. This award is an expert and independent judgment of the best new car and the award property has been increasing in prominence with each passing year. JK Tyre has been sponsoring the award ceremony of the ICOTY ever since its inception.