Delhi, December 18, 2014:The Indian auto industry’s most definitive awards are back! ICOTY and IMOTY’sgrand award ceremony was held at Hotel Ashoka,amidst a gathering of some of the most illustrious captains of the Indian Automobile industry.The movers and shakers who took away the coveted awards this year are Hyundai Creta and Yamaha R3.
This search for the country’s ultimate car and bike of the year has been conceptualised in line with the American Car of the Year, European Car of the Year and Japanese Car of the Year.
The Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) and the Indian Motorcycle of the Year (IMOTY) is the recognition of the finest and best performing car and motorcycle launched in the last one year. Over the years, ICOTY and IMOTY have earned the respect of the auto industry for their transparency and objectivity and are the final say on the best launches of the year.
Congratulating the winners, Dr. Raghupati Singhania, Chairman & Managing Director, JK Tyre & Industries Limited said, “The automobile and auto-ancillary sector in India is growing at a fast pace. The consumer is ever-discerning and automakers seek to outperform each other. In such a competitive environment, JK Tyre and ICOTY & IMOTY Awards endeavour to recognise those who break the clutter with their innovation and deep understanding of the Indian consumer. Congratulations to Hyundai Creta and Yamaha R3 for sailing through the rigorous judging process and emerging victorious.”
This year, the final short list of contenders saw a dozen cars and motorcycles battling it out fortwo of the automobile industry’s highest honours. The chosen ones were then put through a further round of assessment by the jury members at Lonavla on 4th December 2015. After a strenuous session of evaluation followed by voting, the top three contenders
in each category turned out to be Hyundai Creta, Maruti Suzuki Baleno, Renault Kwid and the Yamaha R3, Benelli TNT 300 and Honda CBR650respectively. The nominated cars and motorcycles were judged on various parameters such as price, fuel economy, styling, comfort, safety, performance, practicality, and technical innovation, value for money and suitability for Indian riding conditions.
Commenting on the occasion, Mr. YK Koo, MD & CEO, HMIL said, “We are honoured to win the most prestigious automotive award - The Indian car of the Year 2016 for our make in India, made for the world product- the Perfect SUV- Hyundai CRETA. The CRETA is a true expression of ‘New Age’ Hyundai setting new benchmarks in the industry. Winning the third successive ICOTY award symbolizes the trust and faith of customers in the Hyundai brand. We thank all our customers, partners, media and jurors who have chosen CRETA as the Indian Car of the Year and made Hyundai the most loved and trusted car manufacturer. With innovation at its core, Hyundai will make global quality products with cutting edge technologies and fortify the Hyundai brand, caring for our customers in India and global markets.”
"We launched Yamaha YZF-R3 in August 2015 and the responses that we have been receiving is indeed most positive and encouraging. We understand the needs of our customers and therefore pay great attention to details in our products in terms of styling and design. This win too, is awe-inspiring, thank you IMOTY Jury members and JK Tyre” - Roy Kurian, Vice President-Sales & Marketing, Yamaha Motor India Sales Pvt Ltd.
Congratulating the winning car, Mr. Bob Rupani Founder Jury member ICOTY, and Chairman, ICOTY 2016 said, “The ICOTY Award has now clearly become the most credible and coveted auto award in the country. It has a diverse and most experienced jury drawn from nine prominent publications and the entire auto industry now considers this award to be the ultimate recognition of their product.Our partnership with JK Tyre who have been sponsoring the award ceremony right from the inception a decade back, gets stronger with every passing year”
Mr. AspiBhatena, Chairman, IMOTY 2016commented on the winning motorcycle, “IMOTY 2016 has been one of the toughest awards for the Jury in the last eight years as we had lot of very good motorcycles launched during 2015 but most of them were priced on the high side unlike 2014 where the Harley Davidson street 750 was priced at 4.5 lakhs. Last but not the least I would like to thank JK Tyres for their unconditional support for the last eight years.”
Every year, representatives from leading automobile magazines in India constitute the jury of Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) and Indian Motorcycle of the Year (IMOTY). This year ICOTY and IMOTY are headed by veteran auto journalist Bob Rupani, Chairman ICOTY and Aspi Bhatena, Chairman IMOTY.
This specialist jury of senior Indian automotive journalists is the best from the industry and together they have over 300 years of experience. The jury has proven analytical skills and competence in evaluating and testing cars, as a part of their profession. These jury members are responsible for selecting a single decisive winner in a fair and unbiased and tamper proof manner.
The jury forICOTY 2016 included Bob Rupani (Chairman), Yogendra Pratap (Auto Today), Rahul Ghosh (Auto Today), Dhruv Behl (Auto X), Ishan Raghava (Auto X), Rohin Nagrani (Motoring World), Aspi Bhathena (Car India), Aninda Sardar (Car India), Bertrand D'souza (Overdrive), Girish Karkera (BBC Top Gear), Sirish Chandran (Evo India), Ouseph Chacko (Evo India), Muralidhar Swaminathan (The Hindu Business Line) and Pablo Chaterji (Man’s World).
IMOTY 2016 jury comprised of Aspi Bhathena and Aninda Sardar (Bike India), Abhinav Mishra (BBC Top Gear), Shubhabrata Marmar and Halley Prabhakar (Overdrive), Rahul Ghosh (Auto Today),Jared Solomon and Arup Das (AutoX), Kartik Ware (Motoring World) and Sirish Chandran,Ouseph Chacko (Evo), and Pablo Chaterjee (Man’s World).
The award ceremony witnessed eminent guests, including scions of the corporate world, senior officials from the auto industry and representatives of industrial bodies. ICOTY & IMOTY are the most credible and coveted automobile awards in the country. The awards have been gaining prominence with each passing year and JK Tyre has been associated with it since its inception.
Past winners:
ICOTY: Maruti Suzuki Swift (2006), Honda Civic (2007), Hyundai i10 (2008), Honda City (2009), Tata Nano (2010), Ford Figo (2011), Maruti Suzuki Swift (2012), Renault Duster (2013), Hyundai i10 Grand (2014), Hyundai Elitei20 (2015)
IMOTY:Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi (2008), Yamaha R15 (2009), Kawasaki Ninja 250R (2010),Honda CB Twister (2011), Honda CBR 250R (2012), KTM Duke 200 (2013), Royal Enfield Continental (2014), Harley Davidson Street 750 (2015)
About ICOTY & IMOTY:
ICOTY and IMOTY are the bodies formed to recognize exceptional level of competence, innovation and technology in the auto & auto ancillary industries. The awards recognize the company with the highest level of performance in terms of product development, quality, timely delivery, competitive pricing, project management and customer service.
Conceptualised in line with the American Car of the Year, European Car of the Year and Japanese Car of the Year, the Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) and the Indian Motorcycle of the Year (IMOTY) is the search for the ultimate car and motorcycle launched in the last one year.