Doing your bit in your respective field is a bit of achievement especially when no one has actually attempted it so far in their portfolio so far. But getting an award for it is a sure shot way of celebrating your success. Yes, the year 2010 is coming to an end and the awards for the cars and bikes launched this year was finally presented at a glittering ceremony held in Mumbai. Since we deal with cars as of now, we would be concentrating more on the 4 wheeled machines. First come the jury for these awards and they include the who’s who of the automotive world. Between them they have about 50 years of experience in the automotive sector. They are Gautam Sen and Bob Rupani of Auto India, Pablo Chaterji and Srinivas Krishnan of BS Motoring, Vikrant Singh and Yogendra Pratap of Auto Bild, Sriram Satyanarayanan and Girish Karkera from BBC Top Gear India, Aspi Bhathena of Car India, Bertrand D’souza and Sirish Chandran of OVERDRIVE.
Back to the awards function, it was sponsored by JK tyres. The cars which were in contention were the Ford Figo, Maruti Suzuki WagonR, Chevrolet Beat, Volkswagen Vento, Nissan Micra, Skoda Yeti, Volkswagen Polo and the Tata Aria. Unfortunately our favourite, the Toyota Etios couldn’t make it to the list since when the Toyota was launched, the final list of contenders was already made up. However it would definitely be one of the nominees for the next year’s award. There were many presentations from the various nominees listing their strengths of course and various other details. Well, the ICOTY award 2010 goes to the Ford Figo. The cars were judged on parameters like manoeuvrability, functionality, driver appeal, fuel efficiency, environmental concern, safety, design, comfort and finally price. The value for money proposition and also any new technological innovations on the way also add up as side kicks. Cars which have few mechanical enhancements didn’t make it to the list as the guidelines were quite clear that only new cars on new platforms would be eligible for the nomination process. The winner edged the others by 83 points. The Ford Figo was closely followed by the Volkswagen Vento which bagged 57 points, The third spot was shared by the Skoda Yeti and the Volkswagen Polo with 37 points.
A beaming President& MD, Ford India, Mr. Michael Boneham mentioned that the company is elated with the response given to its first small car in India and with over 60,000 Ford Figos on the Indian roads now, within less than 8 months of its launch, it is a great achievement. He also congratulated everyone involved in the development of the made for India car, the Ford Figo and also thanked the customers for their whole hearted support. Chairman of ICOTY, Mr Srinivas Krishnan, editor of BS Motoring said that it has been 6 years since the awards were started and now, it has become an industry benchmark with all the major car manufacturers vying for it. The Indian motorcycle of the year {IMOTY} went to the Honda Twister.