Ford Figo wins indian car of the year

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JK Tyre, in association with the top auto magazines in India, today presented the most prestigious awards in the automotive industry - the Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) 2011 and the Indian Motorcycle of the Year 2011 (IMOTY).  In line with the American Car of the Year, European Car of the Year and Japanese Car of the Year, these awards are at par with international standards and are the most prestigious auto awards of the country.

The nominees were judged by a panel of senior automobile experts who got together to vote for the most impressive car and motorcycle of the year. Using their analytic skills and competence, the expert jury evaluated and tested the cars and motorcycles nominated. The voting system is very fair and transparent which makes the ICOTY and IMOTY amongst the most credible and coveted awards.

Ford Figo was conferred with the Indian Car of the Year 2011 and Honda CB Twister bagged the Indian Motorcycle of the Year 2011.

Congratulating the winners of ICOTY & IMOTY, Dr. Raghupati Singhania, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd. said, “We are here to celebrate the achievements of the Indian automobile industry and to honour the focused and rigorous efforts made by auto makers in the areas of Design excellence and innovation and R&D. The ‘Indian Car of the Year’ and ‘Indian Motorcycle of the Year’ awards recognize the auto manufacturer with the highest level of performance in terms of product development, quality, timely delivery, competitive pricing, project management and customer service.”

The cars and motorcycles nominated were judged on various parameters such as price, fuel efficiency, design, comfort, safety, manoeuvrability, performance, functionality, environmental responsibility and driver/rider satisfaction among others. In addition, technical innovation and value for money were particularly important factors while deciding on the winner. 

Cars and motorcycles that have had cosmetic facelifts or small mechanical changes like different power or drive trains, do not qualify for these awards. The country of origin does not matter, but they have to be sold in showrooms in India before 30th November of the previous year and should have been homologated for Indian type approval.

“The Indian Car of the Year award reflects India’s standing in the global automotive market. It recognizes the efforts made by manufacturers to give us Indians the cars that have been engineered with us in mind. Over six years, the ICOTY award has grown in stature and today, it’s something that all car manufacturers in India aspire for,” said Srinivas Krishnan, Editor, Business Standard Motoring and Chairman, ICOTY 2011.

On winning the ICOTY award Michael Boneham, President& MD, Ford India said, "Coming close on the heels of the Figo's immense popularity with over 58,000 units sold in past eight months, this industry-wide recognition truly establishes it as a performance car. The critical acclaim from the experts reinforces the faith in Figo as one of the best products in its class available today.”

The esteemed jury for ICOTY comprised Bob Rupani and Gautam Sen from Auto India, Sirish Chandran and Bertrand D’Souza from Overdrive, Girish Karkera and Sriram Narayanan from Top Gear, Aspi Bhathena from Car India, Srinivas Krishnan and Pablo Chaterji from Business Standard Motoring and Yogendra Pratap and Vikrant Singh from Auto Bild.

The jury of IMOTY included Bertrand D'Souza and Shubhabrata Marmar from Overdrive, Girish Karkera and Debabrata Sarkar from Top Gear, Aspi Bhathena from Bike India, Pablo Chaterji from Business Standard Motoring and Vikrant Singh from Auto Bild. This 13-member specialist jury consisting of senior Indian automotive journalists is the best from the industry and together they have over 300 years of experience.

In the ICOTY Category, while Ford Figo emerged as the clear winner with 83 points, Volkswagen Vento came second with 57 points. There was a tie for the third spot between Volkswagen polo and Skoda Yeti with 37 points.

There was a close clash between the top three motorcycles in the IMOTY category. Honda CB Twister won with 66 points while giving close competition was Bajaj Pulsar 135 LS with 63 points. TVS Jive was in third position with 48 points.

The finalists for the ICOTY category this year were Chevrolet Beat, Ford Figo, Maruti Suzuki Wagon R, Nissan Micra, Skoda Yeti, Tata Aria, Volkswagen Polo and Volkswagen Vento. The finalists for the IMOTY category were Bajaj Pulsar 135LS, Bajaj Discover 150, Honda CB Twister, Mahindra Stallio, TVS Jive and TVS Max4R.

India’s youngest F1 driver Karun Chandhok and India’s youngest karting champion Jehan Daruvala were also present at the award ceremony. Famous celebrity, Sophie Chowdhury added glitz and glamour to the award ceremony and enthralled the audiences with her mind-blowing performance.

Ford Figo discover drive

Technorati Tags: ford,figo,discover,drive,india

Discover Smart Drive across India in October, you have encouraged and supported us to make this a big success. We would like to better this success and create more opportunities for more people to have fun driving the Figo. Due to popular demand, we have decided to conduct the Discover Smart Drive at a regional level and we would like to begin with Kerala – God’s own country.

One lucky couple from Kerala will drive the special Figo, painted by renowned anchor and artist Harun Robert, across 600kms on a 5 day journey across Calicut, Trissur, Kochi, and Kottayam, and Trivandrum. During the journey, the lucky couple will get a lifetime opportunity to discover Smart things about the Figo along with exploring tourist destinations across Kerala and attending special events organized by Ford dealerships.

If you are keen to explore Kerala in a SMART way, here is your chance again to get selected for this drive. All you need to do is fill up and submit this The contest is open till Saturday, Dec 11, 2010 midnight. You might ask why such a short time. The reason is that this December is a special month for Ford. Having reached several milestones and in the middle of its unique promotion December Dhamaal, we would like to keep those spirits up and want the most active online Ford Figo fans from Kerala to get the maximum chance to participate in the drive. This contest is open to young couples, online, from Kerala who are adventure seekers and love driving. We will open up to couples from other States in the coming Discover Smart Drives.

Hurry up. There is less than 24 hours left.

India’s first online automotive store launched by Vicky.in

Chennai, 29 November, 2010: Vicky.in – India’s leading auto portal has launched India’s first online automotive store. “www.vicky.in/shopping” is designed to meet the needs of car and bike owners across India. Customers can buy branded car seat covers, security systems, scale models,GPS systems,car stickers, sun control films, car infotainment systems, body kits, car laptop chargers, car care products and merchandises. Bike owners can buy their favourite helmet brands,riding gears, lifestyle products and more. Icing on the cake is new products are being to the store added to the store everyday. Customers can also suggest their desired products to vicky.in team.

“Apart from home or workplace, customers spend most of their time in a car/bike. Right from the age of ambassadors, Indian customer always decorate the cars as their living room. But the unorganized sector makes the shopping cumbersome even for auto enthusiast. Lack of availability of reliable products often makes the customers to pay premium price or to settle with low quality kits. Vicky.in/shopping offers everything one would aspire for – Stanley seat covers to Glade sport car perfumes, Sparx helmets to Alpinestars riding gears. Our tie-up with best courier services makes delivery of products at customers doorstep on time.”said Karthick Annamalai,Co-Founder of Vicky.in.

“Indian automotive aftermarket is highly unorganized and scattered, with the Vicky.in online store, customers from remote corners of india will get access to branded products. Vicky.in offers guaranteed lowest prices on all car and bike accessories” said Vignesh Annamalai, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Vicky.in.

Vicky.in shopping features the best automotive after market brands – Stanley seat covers, Mapmyindia navigation devices, Xenos car security systems, Maisto car scale models, JVC car audio system, Garware Sun control film and Vega helmets. Customers can also buy merchandises from their favourite manufacturers. Vicky.in offers best customer care services through Live chat, Telephone and Mail based support. Vicky.in has been pioneering the car and bike needs of Indian customers. With the new online automotive store, it is all set to achieve new heights.

Shopping link: http://vicky.in/shopping/

Rane NSK steering limited

Rane NSK Steering Systems Limited (RNSSL) is a 50:50 Joint Venture (JV) between the Rane Holdings Limited and NSK Ltd., Japan, supplying steering columns to the automobile sector for the past 12 years. RNSSL started commercial production of manual steering column (MSC) at its Chennai plant in 1998. Another state-of-the-art Electric Power Steering (EPS) column plant was established at Bawal in 2008. The products manufactured by RNSSL are technology intensive and safety critical.  RNSSL leverages on NSK’s strength on technology, design and R&D support.

Taking cognizance of the changing dynamics of the market, technology advancement in the Indian Auto component industry and for providing better service to customers from technology and cost optimization angles, Rane Holdings Limited has agreed to transfer 1% of its shareholding in RNSSL to NSK. Accordingly, effective November 30, 2010 the shareholding of Rane Holdings Limited in RNSSL has become 49% and the shareholding of NSK has become 51%.

Majority shareholding in RNSSL held by NSK will enhance its commitment to the Indian market, its global customers and would facilitate quicker response to customer needs in terms of value added products and latest technology. This is a major step in taking the relationship between the JV partners to the next level and would gear RNSSL to meeting the challenges in the evolving auto industry.