Page 4 - Mobility Winter Supplement 2023

SA CAR OF THE YEAR 2023

SA CAR OF THE YEAR 2023

2 023 marked the 37 year of the awards run by the SA Guild of Mobility Journalists and sponsored by
th
Old Mutual Insure.
After the Covid interruptions of the last few years, this year saw the return of physical evaluation
days for the jury members. Your editor is proud to be a member of the jury panel. This allowed us to renew
our impressions of the cars we had previously experienced or sample any we had not driven before.
Evaluation took place at Zwartkops Raceway in Pretoria, allowing jurors to drive on track, skidpan, and
on the road. Off-road vehicles were also given a run on the off-road course.
After the physical experience, it was time to sit down and allocate scores to every finalist, all 21 of them,
in all different aspects. Lightstone provided information to ensure that every finalist was evaluated against
its market and segment competitors.
The most crucial criterion for COTY is finding the vehicle that excels the most against the competition
and has moved the goalposts the most within its market segment. Considering the excellent contenders that
made it to the finals, this was no easy task.
Winners were crowned in various categories before the top 3 places overall were announced at the gala
event on 1 June.

The category winners were:
Compact Family Car: Beijing X55
Midsize: Kia Sportage
Premium: Kia Sorento
Adventure SUV: Ford Everest
Double Cab 4x4: Ford Ranger
Luxury: Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Performance: Audi RS3
New Energy: Volvo XC40 Recharge

In 3 place: Mercedes-Benz S-Class
rd
In 2 place: Ford Everest
nd

AND THE OVERALL WINNER OF COTY 2023: FORD RANGER DOUBLE CAB

This a stunning achievement by Ford SA and marks the first time in the competition history that a bakkie has
taken the crown. n

Click here to watch our video of the winner announcements:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDQ9Ld9VJfg

MOBILITY WINTER 2023 | 2