Turkish reporters select Totoya Corolla ‘car of the year’

Emre Özpeynirci - ISTANBUL

Members of the Automotive Journalists’ Association (OGD) have selected Toyota Corolla Sedan, which is produced at the carmaker’s plant in the western province of Sakarya, as the “car of the year.”

Toyota Corolla’s hybrid version is also manufactured at the same plant.

The competition, which was held for the fourth time this year, is based on evaluations by 74 members of the association who grade the competing cars over different features.

Toyota Corolla Sedan scored 4,170 points and became the car of the year.

In the first competition, Skoda Superb won the prize and Renault Megan Sedan was the winner in the following year. In the previous competition the award went to Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid.

In this year’s competition, Dacia Duster came second with 3,770 points, followed by Mercedes Benz Series A with 2,670. Ford Focus scored 2,260 points, while Volvo XC40 OGD came fifth with 2,020. Volkswagen T-Roc and Honda CR-V finished sixth and seventh, scoring 1,880 and 1,730 points, respectively.

In the first leg of the competition, seven vehicles were shortlisted and made it to the finals.

At the final stage, the cars were evaluated under a number of criteria, including design, road grip, ergonomics, emission level, safety, hardware and the price/value ratio.

The winner Toyota Corolla will be able to use the “car of the year” title in its advertisements and in the company’s press releases throughout the year.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Ufuk Sandık, the president of the Automotive Journalists’ Association, said that the competition serves as a guide to consumers.

“It is very important for us that consumers take this competition as a reference point when purchasing a car. There was a tough competition among the candidates,” he added.

Ali Haydar Bozkurt, CEO of Toyota, thanked the association for the award.

“We are very happy for receiving this precious award. All cars are the products of hard labor. Someone must have been selected as the winner and it was us. But I think the entire auto industry was the winner,” he said.

According to data from the Automotive Distributors’ Association, a total of 23,576 units of Toyota Corolla model cars were sold in Turkey last year.

In the first three months of 2019, 2,707 Toyota Corolla brand cars were sold.
The Automotive Journalists’ Association also honored the carmaker OYAK Renault Mais for its contribution to the automotive industry. OYAK and Renault celebrated their 50th year of cooperation.