The Cars.co.za Consumer Awards was established to be the most prestigious, credible and influential awards programme in the South African motor industry. It recognizes nine vehicles that represent the best-considered new purchases in their respective categories of the South African new vehicle market and names three special category winners: Game Changer, Design and Brand of the Year.
Cars.co.za’s awards programme has a multi-faceted judging process, based on inputs from four members of the experienced editorial team and three highly respected external jurors (non-motoring journalists, who were selected for their analytical ability). The combined jury allocated scores to the three finalists in each category based on their assessments from a test day (on which all vehicles were compared back-to-back), as well as comprehensive feedback from thousands of South African new vehicle owners who participated in the Cars.co.za’s Owner Satisfaction Survey,
as well as statistics supplied by leading automotive industry data specialists, Lightstone Auto.
Whereas the winners of the Game changer and Design of the Year special categories were selected based on scores awarded by the editorial team members, the prestigious Brand of the Year award was determined solely by manufacturers’ ratings in the Cars.co.za’s Owner Satisfaction Survey (in association with Lightstone Consumer) and the market share change and resale value statistics of every vehicle brand during the period January to December 2015 (supplied by Lightstone Auto).
Complete list of winners
Compact Car Ford Focus 1.0T Trend
Runners-up: Opel Corsa 1.0T Enjoy, Honda Jazz 1.5 Elegance
Premium Hatchback Volkswagen Golf GTI DSG
Runners-up: Mercedes-Benz GLA200 CDI Auto, BMW 120i 5-dr M Sport Auto
Business Class Mercedes-Benz C250 AMG Sport
Runners-up: BMW 428i Gran Coupe Sport sports auto, Audi S3 quattro S trance
First Class Mercedes-Benz S500
Runners-up: Range Rover SDV8 Autobiography, Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG Coupe
Family Car Citroën C4 Picasso e-HDI Intensive
Runners-up: Nissan X-Trail 2.0 XE, Volkswagen Golf SV 1.4 TSI Comfort line
Leisure Car Land Rover Discovery Sport SD4 SE
Runners-up: Nissan X-Trail 2.5 SE CVT AWD, Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 3.0 TD TX
Premium SUV Volvo XC90 D5 Inscription
The Cars.co.za Consumer Awards judging process
The Cars.co.za Consumer Awards is different to other automotive-themed award programmes in a number of ways… The Cars.co.za editorial team considered each and every model in the new vehicle market — candidates were evaluated as individual models and not as parts of complete model line-ups. What’s more, candidates were eligible for an award irrespective of when they were launched.
During the first phase of judging, the editorial team (Hannes Oosthuizen, David Taylor, Ciro de Siena and Ashley Oldfield) researched, analysed and debated each of the cars on sale in South Africa. Contenders were measured against predetermined “pillars of success” to determine if they were eligible for an award in their categories. Five finalists were selected in each of nine categories.
For the second phase, the Cars.co.za editors completed comprehensive scoring sheets to assess the semi-finalists in terms specific criteria, such as interior comfort, performance, efficiency, packaging etc. The weightings of the criteria were adjusted to reflect the requirements of the target markets of each category. Once the scores were tallied, the finalists were trimmed to three in each category.
For the ultimate phase of the judging process, the Cars.co.za editorial team was complemented by three guest judges who were selected based on their reputations for being no-nonsense fact finders and because they are not necessarily active in the automotive space. They were consumer journalist Wendy Knowler, The Daily Maverick editor, Branko Brkic and Business Day editor, Songezo Zibi.
The final judging day, which was attended by the combined jury, was hosted in Johannesburg in late 2015. It presented the judging panel with an opportunity to re-evaluate all the vehicles that were chosen as finalists for the Cars.co.za Consumer Awards. However, instead of completing the in-depth scoring sheets (with the weighted criteria points system) based on only their assessments, jurors awarded their scores by referring to the findings of the Cars.co.za Owner Satisfaction Survey.
The importance of incorporating consumer input
The Cars.co.za Owner Satisfaction Survey, developed in association with leading automotive data specialists Lightstone Consumer, incorporated feedback from thousands of South African owners (of vehicles newer than five years old), who rated their own cars for reliability, after-sales service, cost of ownership and general satisfaction. This credible, invaluable consumer input, allied with resale value data per vehicle brand supplied by the Auto division of Lightstone, allowed the jurors to adjust their final scores to reflect consumers’ experiences as well as vehicle brands’ market performance.
“There are many awards programmes out there that claim public participation, but what we mean when we talk of consumer input, is not a popular voting mechanism,” said Cars.co.za Consumer Experience Manager Hannes Oosthuizen. “We didn’t want a ‘beauty pageant’… we wanted real, credible input, and the only way to do that is for the public to give us their views on the cars they know best — the ones they own. The only way the public can impact the results of the Cars.co.za Consumer Awards is by completing our survey, done in partnership with Lightstone Consumer.”
The results of the Cars.co.za Consumer Awards were verified by respected auditing firm KPMG.
About the event
The winners of the Cars.co.za Consumer Awards were announced at Shine Studios in Braamfontein on January 14 2016. The event was attended by approximately 150 guests including prominent South African motor industry executives, including representatives from vehicle manufacturers and importers, dealer groups, the finance sector, media agencies, social influencers and celebrities.
The head of Cars.co.za’s video division Ciro de Siena and comedian John Vlismas presented the awards (handcrafted car-key shaped trophies made from stainless steel, titanium, aluminium and acrylic); Mike Sharman — the owner of Retroviral Digital Communications — was the quest speaker. The event was digitally broadcast on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and, in a first for an automotive-themed awards ceremony in South Africa: the Periscope Live Stream App. The significance of the multi-platform broadcast was that it allowed consumers, who are at the core of Cars.co.za’s awards programme, to actively participate in the event. Furthermore, the #CarsAwards hashtag was one of the top trending topics in South Africa on Twitter during — and immediately after — the event.
Visit http://www.carsawards.co.za for more information about the Consumer Awards, including the winners and finalists, and view images of the award recipients that were taken at the event.
