As we get ready to bid adieu to yet another year of automotive awesomeness, the awards season has just begun. As it has always been for us, it all starts with the Indian Car of the year (ICOTY) and Indian Motorcycle of the Year (IMOTY) titles. Designed on the lines of popular international titles like the North American Car of the Year and European Car of the Year, a group of journalists from leading automotive publications in India get together, deliberate on the new cars and motorcycles launched in the country in the last one year and decide on the winners.
2013 saw some very important segment-defining models being launched in the Indian market like the Ford Ecosport, Honda Amaze, Hyundai Grand i10, Mahindra e2O and Skoda Octavia. Bring in cars like the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, BMW 1-Series and Nissan Terrano into the mix and deciding on a winner becomes all the more difficult. A total of 17 cars qualified for the award out of which 9 made it to the final shortlist. In the end, Hyundai Grand i10 emerged victorious, pipping Honda Amaze and Ford Ecosport to take the coveted title.
Of course, this isn't the first time the Grand i10 is being crowned the Indian Car of the Year as the first-generation i10 won this award handsomely in 2008. Following up on the great work done by the previous i10, Hyundai has emerged victorious yet again with the Grand i10, that's bigger, better and grander than its predecessor in every aspect.
2014 ICOTY RESULTS:
Winner - Hyundai Grand i10
PREVIOUS ICOTY WINNERS:
* 2013 - Renault Duster
* 2012 – Maruti-Suzuki Swift
* 2011 – Ford Figo
* 2010 – Tata Nano
* 2009 – Honda City
Moving over to motorcycles, the story is not dissimilar. There were quite a few big launches in 2013, what with Hyosung Aquila Pro, Kawasaki Ninja 300, KTM Duke 390, Mahindra Centuro and Royal Enfield Continental GT coming into the fray. Don't forget the 10-model blitzkrieg of Triumph that made headlines recently. The jurors didn't have it easy, we swear. After what would have been intense testing and deliberation, it is the Royal Enfield Continental GT that came on top, beating KTM Duke 390 and Hyosung Aquila Pro on the way.
The Continental GT is, by far, the best motorcycle from Royal Enfield in a few decades. With its gorgeous cafe racer styling, chassis tuned by Harris Performance of UK and firms like Paioli and Brembo supplying critical parts, the Continental GT marks the beginning of a new era for Royal Enfield in India and abroad.
2014 IMOTY RESULTS:
Winner – Royal Enfield Continental GT
PREVIOUS IMOTY WINNERS:
* 2013 - KTM Duke 200
* 2012 – Honda CBR 250R
* 2011 – Honda CB Twister
* 2010 – Kawasaki Ninja 250R
* 2009 – Yamaha YZF R15
The jury for ICOTY and IMOTY awards were Girish Karkera and Sriram Narayanan (BBC TopGear), Vikrant Singh, Bertrand D’Souza and Subhabrata Marmar (Overdrive), Yogendra Pratap and Rahul Ghosh (Auto Bild), Bob Rupani and Gautam Sen (Auto India), Dhruv Behl and Ashish Jha (AutoX), Pablo Chatterji, Rohin Nagrani and Kartik Ware (Motoring), Aspi Bhathena and Sarmad Kadiri (Car India & Bike India), Sirish Chandran (Evo India) and Muralidhar Swaminathan (The Hindu Business Line).
2013 saw some very important segment-defining models being launched in the Indian market like the Ford Ecosport, Honda Amaze, Hyundai Grand i10, Mahindra e2O and Skoda Octavia. Bring in cars like the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, BMW 1-Series and Nissan Terrano into the mix and deciding on a winner becomes all the more difficult. A total of 17 cars qualified for the award out of which 9 made it to the final shortlist. In the end, Hyundai Grand i10 emerged victorious, pipping Honda Amaze and Ford Ecosport to take the coveted title.
Of course, this isn't the first time the Grand i10 is being crowned the Indian Car of the Year as the first-generation i10 won this award handsomely in 2008. Following up on the great work done by the previous i10, Hyundai has emerged victorious yet again with the Grand i10, that's bigger, better and grander than its predecessor in every aspect.
2014 ICOTY RESULTS:
Winner - Hyundai Grand i10
PREVIOUS ICOTY WINNERS:
* 2013 - Renault Duster
* 2012 – Maruti-Suzuki Swift
* 2011 – Ford Figo
* 2010 – Tata Nano
* 2009 – Honda City
Moving over to motorcycles, the story is not dissimilar. There were quite a few big launches in 2013, what with Hyosung Aquila Pro, Kawasaki Ninja 300, KTM Duke 390, Mahindra Centuro and Royal Enfield Continental GT coming into the fray. Don't forget the 10-model blitzkrieg of Triumph that made headlines recently. The jurors didn't have it easy, we swear. After what would have been intense testing and deliberation, it is the Royal Enfield Continental GT that came on top, beating KTM Duke 390 and Hyosung Aquila Pro on the way.
The Continental GT is, by far, the best motorcycle from Royal Enfield in a few decades. With its gorgeous cafe racer styling, chassis tuned by Harris Performance of UK and firms like Paioli and Brembo supplying critical parts, the Continental GT marks the beginning of a new era for Royal Enfield in India and abroad.
2014 IMOTY RESULTS:
Winner – Royal Enfield Continental GT
PREVIOUS IMOTY WINNERS:
* 2013 - KTM Duke 200
* 2012 – Honda CBR 250R
* 2011 – Honda CB Twister
* 2010 – Kawasaki Ninja 250R
* 2009 – Yamaha YZF R15
The jury for ICOTY and IMOTY awards were Girish Karkera and Sriram Narayanan (BBC TopGear), Vikrant Singh, Bertrand D’Souza and Subhabrata Marmar (Overdrive), Yogendra Pratap and Rahul Ghosh (Auto Bild), Bob Rupani and Gautam Sen (Auto India), Dhruv Behl and Ashish Jha (AutoX), Pablo Chatterji, Rohin Nagrani and Kartik Ware (Motoring), Aspi Bhathena and Sarmad Kadiri (Car India & Bike India), Sirish Chandran (Evo India) and Muralidhar Swaminathan (The Hindu Business Line).
very very great that RE came out with flying colours for the first time...
ReplyDeleteTrue, kudos to RE for the efforts they have put in for the Continental GT.
DeleteI think the EcoSport should have won.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, we thought that the Ecosport would sweep all the COTY awards this year too. But, that's hardly the case.
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ReplyDelete