The finalist vehicle ranges for the 2018 WesBank South African Car of the Year (COTY) competition have been revealed following a vote cast by a 26-member jury from an original list of 35 eligible vehicle ranges.

The finalists include the Alfa Romeo Giulia, the Audi Q5, the BMW 5 series, KIA Picanto, the Land Rover Discovery, the PEUGEOT 3008, the Porsche Panamera, the Suzuki Ignis, the Toyota C-HR and the Volvo S90.

According to the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists (SAGMJ) the finalists represent the robust relationship between the South African motor industry, the SAGMJ, and the COTY competition’s headline sponsor.

Ghana Msibi, General Manager for Sales and Marketing at WesBank, says: “Our relationships with the SAGMJ, as well as our OEM and dealer partners have been critical to our joint successes, which is why we support and invest in the South African Car of The Year competition. I would like to thank the SAGMJ and the judging panel for all the hard work as they prepared for the unveiling of the ten finalists.”

Evaluation days

The SAGMJ says preparations now continue for the COTY evaluation days that will be held in late January 2018.

At these evaluation days the COTY Jury will assess the cars independently, with routes and modules designed to test the vehicles in a similar way in which the average consumer would use them.

The evaluation days offer the Jury the opportunity to reacquaint themselves with the vehicles on specific criteria including aesthetics, build quality, ergonomics, fuel consumption, environmental friendliness, safety features and value for money.

These aspects are not only important with regards to the actual testing, but also to how the public perceives the COTY process, the finalists and ultimately the winning car.

“We’ve seen many of these finalists performing well in our search volumes, with more than half appearing in our top 200 most searched for makes. It will be interesting to see who the judges choose as the winner,” says George Mienie, AutoTrader CEO.

The Jury will also have access to performance test data, comparative pricing and specification data, as well as comparative parts pricing data, compiled by the Guild’s digital partner, MAPO International.

The winner will be revealed at an evening function on 13 March 2018.