Philippine Car of The Year Winners 2007

[niky]

Victorious Volvo

Volvo C30 is voted Car of the Year Philippines as the Swedish carmaker hauls three other awards

Brian Afuang

EMERGING victorious in the Petron 2007 Car of the Year-Philippines (COTY-Phils.) Awards is Volvo’s sport compact sedan, the C30, having been named the 2007 Car of the Year. Three other Volvo models were voted best in their respective categories.

The Coty-Phils. awards were handed out November 15 in an evening ceremony in Makati City.

Besides the Car of the Year award, the C30 was also named the Luxury Subcompact of the Year. Meanwhile, the C30’s S60 T5 and S80 2.5L kin were voted as the Executive Car and Luxury Car of the Year, respectively.

The Manila Times tried to reach Viking Cars—the country’s official Volvo distributor—for comment but there wasn’t any reply as of press time.

Tying Volvo in its awards haul was Kia. The company’s diminutive but capable Picanto 1.1 DLX was named the Basic Subcompact Car of the Year, the Rio 1.4 Sedan won the Executive Subcompact category, and Kia’s people-movers Carens CRDi and the short wheel base Carnival 2.9 LX CRDi topped the voting for Compact Van and MPV and Executive Van and MPV of the Year, respectively.

Another big winner was Subaru, whose outgoing but extremely potent Impreza 2.5 WRX was judged as the Philippines’ Sports Car of the Year. The Forester 2.5 XT emerged as Crossover and Wagon (4WD) of the Year while the Outback 3.0R was named this year’s Luxury Crossover and Wagon.

Ford equaled Subaru’s haul as the American company’s “Built Ford Tough” trucks proved their mettle convincingly. The Ranger dominated the pickup scene, having been named as Pickup of the Year in the four-wheel and two-wheel drive categories. The Everest 4x2 is this the 2007 Executive SUV.

The Honda Civic 1.8 AT was named Compact Car of the Year and its sibling, the CR-V 2.0 MT, won as the best Crossover and Wagon in the two-wheel drive category.

In the Midsize Car category, Toyota’s scintillating Camry was tops.

As far as ultra-luxury vehicles are concerned, the Audi A6 was judged the Ultra-Luxury Car of the Year, the Chrysler Town and Country the Ultra-Luxury Van and MPV of the Year, the Chevrolet Suburban the Ultra-Luxury SUV of the Year, and the BMW X5 the Ultra-Luxury Crossover and Wagon of the Year.

The Mitsubishi Endeavor, for its part, was named the Luxury SUV of the year and the Hyundai Starex is this year’s Luxury Van and MPV. The 2007 Compact SUV of the Year is the Suzuki Grand Vitara.

Besides the major awards, 19 special citations were also announced at the ceremony.

COTY-Phils. is organized by the Car Awards Group Inc., whose members are composed of automotive journalists from the print, broadcast and Internet media. The awards were conducted in partnership with Globe Telecoms, Bridgestone, Rockwell Land, The Manila International Auto Show, San Miguel Corp., Standard Insurance, Bosch, San Lazaro Leisure Park, Concept One, Speedlab, Makati Skyline, Xenon, H&R, A-Toy Body Kits and Jollibee.

In list format:

Car of the Year: Volvo C30
Executive COTY: Volvo S60 T5
Luxury COTY: Volvo S80 2.5

Basic Subcompact: Picanto 1.1 DLX
Executive Subcompact: Rio 1.4 Sedan
Compact Car: Honda Civic 1.8 AT
Midsize Car: Toyota Camry
Ultra-Luxury: Audi A6

Sports Car: Impreza 2.5 WRX

Compact Van/MPV: Carens CRDi
Executive Van/MPV: Carnival 2.9 LX CRDi SWB
Luxury Van/MPV: Hyundai Starex
Ultra-Luxury Van/MPV: Chrysler Town and Country

Crossover/Wagon (2WD): CR-V 2.0 MT
Crossover/Wagon (4WD): Forester 2.5 XT
Luxury Crossover/Wagon (4WD):Outback 3.0R
Ultra-Luxury Crossover/Wagon: BMW X5

Pickup (2WD): Ford Ranger
Pickup (4WD): Ford Ranger

Compact SUV: Suzuki Grand Vitara
Executive SUV: Everest 4x2
Luxury SUV: Mitsubishi Endeavor

Special Awards: (thanks to asyong for posting this in the Ranger thread)

SpeedLab Tuner’s Choice Award: Honda Jazz
(hahaha... biased kayo! hahaha... buy their Jazz turbo kit! But I agree with the award...)

Standard Insurance Best Safety Package: Volvo S80 T5

Rockwell Land Best Interior Design: Nissan Teana

Best Looking Utility Vehicle: Mitsubishi Strada

Bridgestone Best Off-Road Vehicle: Ford Ranger 4x4

Most Preferred Security Vehicle: Chevrolet Suburban
(wuh??? )

Segafredo Zanetti Most Versatile Car: Mercedes Benz B B150
(Carens, personally...)

Globe Media Dream Car: Subaru’s Impreza WRX

Concept One ***iest Car: Volvo C30

Manila Jockey Club Best Exterior Design: Audi Q7

Best for Business Vehicle: Isuzu Sportivo
(again, whu??? )

Bridgestone Most Comfortable Ride: Mercedes Benz S350

Bosch Best In-Car Entertainment System: Mitsubishi Outlander

Standard Insurance Best Value for Money: Honda Jazz 1.3 CVT

Bosch Best Technical Innovation: Audi TDi
(??? everyone and his mother has CRDi already... would have agreed if this were given three or four years ago)

AAP Best Road Safety Campaign: Toyota Motors Philippines (thought Ford would get this... oh well...)

Best Marketing Campaign: Hyundai (???)

Best Media Event: Toyota Road Trek

Concept One Best Media Launch: Isuzu Metal to the Pedal D-Max launch (again, ???)


*****whew!!!! Sobrang daming awards!!!!