During an award event held inside the Tokyo International Exchange Center on Tokyo Bay, the Subaru Impreza surveyed 420 votes to win over the Toyota Prius by 49 votes and win the 2017 Car of the Year Japan (COTY). In a close fight for 3rd, the Audi A4 surveyed 149 votes and recorded the Import Car of the Year prize, simply 4 votes ahead of the Volvo XC90.
This victory provides Subaru its second ever COTY prize and its first in last 13 years. While accepting the award, Impreza chief engineer Kazuhiro Abe stated, “When we started establishing the Impreza more than 4 years ago, never ever did I thought that I would be standing here today with such a prominent award. This should be what it seems like to win an Olympic gold. The Impreza’s brand-new worldwide platform has remarkable significance for the company progress and will underpin almost all of our automobiles over the next decade. On behalf of all of my R&D group, I want to thank the jurors for their support of this vehicle.”
Japan’s COTY organization is comprised of 59 jurors who each begin with 25 votes and have to provide their most highly rated vehicle 10 votes. Their remaining 15 votes are then spread out throughout their next best 4 cars. Each juror needs to vote for 5 automobiles out of the last “Top 10”.
After 20 jurors’ votes were revealed, the distinction between the Impreza and Prius was only 9 votes, 138 to 129 votes. So a close finished was anticipated. However, when the 40th juror’s votes was informed, the lead of Subaru Impreza had leapt to 27 votes. And in the end, the Subaru sailed it into get an easy triumph with 420 votes to the Prius’ 371.
The Nissan Serena got the Innovation Award for its Propilot driver-assist, hands-free sliding door innovation and creative seat arrangement, where as the Daihatsu Move Canbus won the Small Mobility award with regards to its packaging. Knowing high marks for its performance and handling, the BMW M2 thrived in the Emotional Award, while the Honda NSX got the Car of the Year Japan steering committee’s Special Award for its innovative V6 twin-turbo hybrid powertrain.
