A diverse jury of automotive journalists from different Indian publications evaluate the best of the year. Here’s who topped the charts:
Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) 2021:
Having won the title back in 2015, the all-new i20 once again emerged on the top of the points table to win this coveted ICOTY award 6 years later. It is the second win in a row for the South Korean maker, which is now also the most successful manufacturer at this annual exercise. Trailing the i20’s 104 points was India’s best-selling sub-4m SUV, the Kia Sonet at 91 points. The much-hyped Mahindra Thar completed the top 3 with 78 points. Hyundai Venue was last year’s winner of this award. The jury was chaired by Yogendra Pratap, Editor of Auto Today. Others in the shortlist of contenders this year included the 5th-generation Honda City, the Hyundai Aura sub-4m sedan, the second-gen Hyundai Creta, Kia’s super-luxury MPV Carnival, MG’s flagship SUV Gloster and Tata’s premium hatch Altroz.
Indian Motorcycle of the Year (IMOTY) 2021:
The popular new cruiser, Royal Enfield’s Meteor 350, won top honours in what is the only award in the two-wheeler category. It’s tally of 96 meant it finished 15 points ahead of the next bike, KTM Adventure 390. The Hero Extreme 160R with 59 points was the second runner-up of the category. Last year’s IMOTY winner was the Hero XPulse. This year’s jury was led by Aspi Bhathena, Editor of Bike India. Others in the fray included Bajaj Dominar 250, Hero Glamour 125, Hero Passion Pro, Honda Hornet 2.0 and the Husqvarna Svartpilen 2.0.
Premium Car of the Year by ICOTY:
While other categories were closely fought, Land Rover’s Defender emerged a clear winner in this class meant for imported cars. It is only the third year of this category that was instituted to include the ever-growing premium and luxury automotive segment in the ICOTY saga. The versatile off-road SUV scored 108 points, 29 more than the next placed Mercedes-Benz GLE. The BMW 2 series Gran Coupe finished third with 61 points. Incidentally, BMW was the winner of this category last year with its 3 series. The shortlist included Audi A8, Audi Q2, Audi Q8, BMW 8 series, Lexus LC 500h, Mercedes-AMG GT 4-door, Mercedes GLS and Porsche Cayenne Coupe.
Green Car of the Year by ICOTY:
It was the inaugural year for this category, aimed to include cars that significantly reduce emissions. The contenders included electric cars and petrol/electric hybrids. The homegrown Tata Nexon EV topped this points table with 106 points with the Hyundai Kona on 99 and MG ZS EV with 93. With only 13 points separating the top 3, this turned out to be the most closely-fought title of this year. Lexus ES 300h, Mercedes EQC and Toyota Camry Hybrid were the others in the shortlist.
ICOTY story:
Constituted in 2005 with the first awards held a year later, this forum brings together a jury made of automotive journalists (minimum 5-years vehicle testing experience) from various media titles that have been in circulation for atleast a year. JK Tyre has been supporting the annual awards ceremony since the inception of these awards. This year too, the company’s chairman, Dr Raghupati Singhania was present to give away the trophies on behalf of the jury.
The vehicles are judged on critical parameters such as performance, efficiency, value for money and practicality in the Indian context. For every category a total of 25 points are at the disposal of each jury member who has to distribute it amongst atleast 5 contenders with a maximum of 10 points for any one contender. The points should be distributed in such a manner that there is one clear winner per jury member. The points of all jury members are then added and are validated by an independent agency (this time by Grant & Thornton Bharat) and winners announced at the annual awards ceremony. This was the 16th edition of the awards. With 7 wins, Hyundai has won ICOTY the most although the most successful car has been the Swift with a record three wins out of four for Maruti Suzuki. Honda has won the crown twice while Tata, Ford and Renault have all topped the charts once.
Girish Karkera