VW, BMW share 2011 car award

Guild of Motoring Journalists (SAGMJ) announced on Tuesday night.
The announcement was “not universally or immediately popular”, admitted SAGMJ chairman Danie van Jaarsveld in a communication to members yesterday, saying it had attracted some “very critical” commentary.

However, it was hoped that the competition’s new format would restore its credibility and help car buyers in SA’s highly competitive market make better choices.
Yet this was the first time in the 26-year history of the competition that the prize was shared, between the new BMW 530d and the VW Polo 1,6 TDi.
The tie was the highly unlikely result of a new, audited online scoring system that tallied SAGMJ jurors’ scores away from any potential interference.

“One could hear a pin drop and the uncomfortable silence lasted unbearably long,” Mr van Jaarsveld said moments after the announcement.
The annual competition is a sought-after accolade in the SA motor industry, which finalist and winning manufacturers use to market their products.
The shock outcome resulted from an all-new voting system for car of the year, according to Mr van Jaarsveld, under which the entire guild membership would vote for the semi-finalists and the finalists.

Mr van Jaarsveld said a final jury selected from the SAGMJ members who had been given access to all of the finalists and could therefore speak with authority would electronically put their votes into a remote server.

This ensured complete transparency, said Mr van Jaarsveld.
Both BMW and VW said they were happy with the result, with VW saying it was “delighted to have the new Polo named as the winner of the 2011 SA car of the year”.
“This is an immense recognition of the Volkswagen brand following Golf’s win in 2010,” according to said David Powels, MD at VWSA.

BMW spokesman Guy Kilfoil said the company would have liked to have won the competition outright, “but not at the cost of transparency”.
Mr Kilfoil said the “difficult decision” to allow the result to stand was “testament to the excellent work the guild is doing”.
He said the SAGMJ would quickly need to write a tie-breaking rule.

Hyundai spokesman Ettienne du Preez said that while the company, which had two cars in the final 10, was disappointed its vehicles didn’t do better.
He said the process was “nice and transparent”.

Despite this, Mr van Jaarsveld apologised to SAGMJ members, saying he however stood by the decision in order that the organisation “can be trusted to be accountable for our actions”. -BusinessDay.