MANILA, Philippines – The country’s premier automotive award-giving body, Car Awards Group, Inc. (CAGI), has already determined the 2015 Car of the Year-Philippines (COTY-P) and the Truck of the Year-Philippines (TOTY-P) last November 13, 2015 at the CAGI Gala Awards Night held at the Fontana Hot Spring Leisure Parks & Casino in Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga.
“All-new” or “Significantly Updated” vehicles or automobile that have had significant mechanical or electronic changes to the powertrain, drivetrain, suspension or activity systems that affect the way they drive or operate that was launched to the local market from October 2014 to October 2015 was the qualification for this year.
The overall COTY-P title was awarded to the Mazda 2 Skyactiv R 4-door, which also won the Best Subcompact Car category. It out-shined all the other 65 nominees that vied for the top award, beating them for its merits in performance, aesthetics, driving experience, and price just to name a few. The last Mazda to get the award was the Mazda 6 that won in 2013 – 2014.
The Mazda team represented by (L-R) Germain Alilio, Field Sales Specialist; Sherlyn Co, Corporate Communications and Relationship Manager; Japheth Castillo, Sales And Marketing Director; Steven Tan, President & CEO; David Asuncion, General Sales Manager; Ralph Garcia, Marketing Manager; and Mark Tamula, Field Service Specialist.
The Nissan NP300 Navara 2.5L 4×2 EL 7AT Calibre earned the TOTY-P award, besting its competitors in the highly contested truck wars. The same variant topped the 4×2 Pickup category, while the all-new Ford Ranger Wildtrak 3.2L 4×4 AT took home the Best 4×4 Pickup award.
Truck of the Year winners. (L-R) Robby Consunji, President, Car Awards Group, Inc.; Dax Avenido, PR and Product Planning Manager, Nissan Philippines, Inc.; SJ Huh, General Manager for Marketing, Nissan Philippines, Inc.; Therese Sarmiento, PR & Communications officer, Nissan Philippines, Inc.; and Subir Lohani, Managing Director, Carmudi Philippines.
As for the other winners in the car categories:
Basic Subcompact Car of the Year – Suzuki Celerio GL 1.0L MT
Best Compact Car of the Year – Kia Forte Koup 2-door Sedan
Best Midsized Car category – Mazda 6 Sports Wagon
Best Premium Sedan – Volvo S60 D4 Polestar
Best Luxury Sedan – Jaguar XE 2.0
This year’s awards also saw a large number of crossovers and MPVs on the entry list:
Best Subcompact Crossover SUV – Nissan Juke
Best Compact Crossover SUV – Honda HR-V 1.8L EL CVT
Best Crossover SUV – Mazda CX-5 AWD Sport
Best Luxury Crossover SUV of the Year – Lexus NX 200t F-Sport
Compact MPV of the Year – Mobilio 1.5V CVT
Luxury MPV of the Year – Odyssey 2.4L EX-V Navi
Best 4×2 SUV – Ford Everest Trend 2.2L 4×2 AT
Best 4×4 SUV – Ford Everest Titanium 3.2 4×4 AT
The most exciting vehicles that entered the 2015 COTY-PH awards, however, were the sports and luxury cars:
Best Sports Hatch – Volkswagen Golf GTI
Best Sports Sedan – Subaru WRX 2.0 MT
Best Sports Car – Mazda MX-5 MT
Best Premium Sports Car – Ford Mustang 5.0 V8 GT Premium
Best High Performance Sports Car – Lexus RC-F
Ultra-luxury Car – Rolls Royce Wraith
Sports Cars of the Year – Ferrari California T
“CAGI has completed the most thorough and critical consumer-oriented vehicle review process in the country. We tested 78 cars and trucks from the 2015 model year, involved roughly 1,500 testdrives over 4 days. To all the car manufacturers and distributors who fielded an entry in this year’s COTY Awards, we highly appreciate your trust and confidence for allowing us to test and scrutinize your cars. Above all, thank you for supporting the objective of the COTY Awards to raise consumer awareness,” said Mr. Robby Consunji, President of the Car Awards Group, Inc.
Established in 2004, the Car Awards Group, Inc. is the longest-running organization of motoring journalists in the country today. Since its incorporation, the group has been striving to find the best vehicles in the country through independent, and comprehensive testing. CAGI’s testing and scoring process is composed of qualitative and quantitative criteria, plus other factors such as safety features and pricing compared to its competitors. The COTY-P and TOTY-P award isn’t just about who is the biggest, strongest, and fastest, but who offers the most complete package.
“On behalf of CAGI, I would like to thank all our sponsors who helped us out this season, with a special mention of our event partner, the audit firm KPMG R.G. Manabat & Company who was instrumental in refining the process and methodology of the COTY Awards. They were also the ones who tabulated the votes and conducted an independent validation of the scores that led to this year’s batch of winners. We would like to thank our event partner Fontana Hot Spring Leisure Parks and Casino for graciously hosting our Testfests, as well as our gala awards night, and to our co-presenter carmudi.com.ph for their trust and support,” Mr. Consunji added.
Aside from the category winners, CAGI’s valued sponsors also gave out special awards to deserving winners:
Speedlab Tuner’s Choice Award:
2015 Mazda MX-5 M/T
Manila International Auto Show Design Award:
2015 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S
Fontana Luxury Lifestyle Award:
2015 Rolls Royce Wraith
CAGI Safety Award:
2015 Ford Everest titanium 3.2L 4×4 AT
Bose Sound Excellence Award:
2015 Mazda 6 Sports Wagon
AirAsia Philippines Consumer Award:
2015 Suzuki Celerio GL 1.0L AT
HitchPro Outdoor Lifestyle Award:
2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport
The 2015 Car of the Year – Philippines is co-presented by Carmudi Philippines, and is made possible by event partners:
The Car Awards Group, Inc. is represented by the following media entities: Business Mirror, Cebu Daily News, Daily Tribune, Malaya Business Insight, Manila Bulletin, Manila Times, Mindanao Daily News, Philippine Daily Inquirer, AQ Magazine, Brand Magazine, C! Magazine, Gadgets Magazine, Motorcycle Magazine, Power Wheels Magazine, Speed Magazine, Stuff Magazine, Top Gear Philippines, Autodeal.com.ph, Autoindustriya.com, CarGuide.ph, Carmudi.com.ph, Interaksyon.com, Kotse.com, ManilaSpeak.com, MotionCars.com, SprocketPH.com, TessDrive.com, TimeAttackManila.com, Yugatech.com, Auto Focus, Auto Review, Motoring Today, Stoplight TV, Motoring sa DZME, DZMM, The Motoring Page on Mellow 94.7 FM, and Inside Motoring on DZRJ 810 AM.