Kia Sorento - People's Choice for Automobile of the Year
MOTORING TODAY By Ray Butch Gamboa SPMJ (The Philippine Star) Updated October 13, 2010 12:00 AM

Registering a total of 42,626 votes, majority of which were ballots from The Philippine STAR, the Kia Sorento came out the overwhelming choice in the public polls conducted for the BDO 2010-2011 Auto Focus Automobile of the Year – People’s Choice Awards besting the over 140 automobile models that were listed this year. With the much-coveted crown, the Sorento also bagged the title of Midsize SUV of the Year.
The voting for this year’s polls were done either through ballots that appeared every Wednesday on the motoring section of the Philippine Star, which registered 3 votes each or those that were printed in the July, August and September issues of Top Gear magazine that were counted as 5 votes each. Single votes were also cast through the voting website, which were limited to only one vote cast per duly registered e-mail address during the duration of the 3-month polls to avoid multi-voting.
For the 12 model categories the winners are; Kia Rio won as the Subcompact of the Year with the Toyota Vios voted as Runner-up. The Vios was ahead in the Top Gear votes but the Rio votes came cascading from PhilStar and On-line ballots.
The newly-launched Chevy Cruze is the Compact Sedan of the Year with the Audi A4 as Runner-up.
The Midsize Sedan of the Year votes went to the newly-launched Hyundai Sonata with the Audi A6 as Runner-up.
The Porsche Panamera Turbo was voted again like last year as the Large Sedan of the Year with the BMW 7 Seriesas Runner -up.
There was a tight contest for the Sports Car of the Year title as last year’s winner, the Hyundai Genesis Coupe came up with a lead of only 266 votes over the Runner Up, which is the Audi R8. The R8 was ahead in the PhilStar votes but was upended in the Top Gear and On-line voting.
And in another tightly contested category, the slimmest margin this year was registered by last year’s winner the Isuzu Crosswindfor the title of AUV of the Year winning it for the 3rd consecutive year but this time with only 9 votes over the Toyota Innova that was similarly voted last year, as Runner-up.

In the van category, 2008-2009 Automobile of the Year from Columbian Autocar, the Kia Carens was voted as Minivan of the Year over Runner-up (similarly last year) from Toyota Motor Philippines, the Toyota Previa, with the Carens getting the bulk of its votes through On-line.
Last year’s People’s Choice for Automobile of the Year, the Hyundai Starex got the public’s nod for the title of Fullsize Van of the Year with fellow Korean model the Kia Carnival as Runner-up, a similar one-two scenario of last year. .
For the title Pickup of the Year the Nissan Navara was picked with last year’s winner the Mitsubishi Strada coming as Runner-up this year.
The top-selling Hyundai Tucson won overwhelmingly over the soon to be replaced Kia Sportage in the Compact SUV of the Year race. The Tucson also garnered the second highest number of votes for the Automobile of the Year contest. The same models won last year replicating their individual places.
While last year’s Midsize SUV of the Year, the Mitsubishi Montero came out Runner-up to this year’s pick, the Sorento.
And finally, the Porsche Cayenne was again the public’s pick for Large SUV of the Year over the Suburban from Chevrolet, which came up as Runner-up.

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