People’s & Media’s Choice Award winners

A total of 71 awards were given out last Thursday, November 9 at the Grand Ballroom of Valle Verde Country Club in Pasig City in the combined Auto Focus People’s & Media’s Choice Awards for 2017.

The Toyota Fortuner garnered it 3rd Automobile of the Year Award—People’s Choice (Standard), so far the only duplication of the 3-peat distinction, which was first achieved last year by stable mate Vios earning them highly distinctive slots in the awards’ elite Hall of Fame.

On the other hand, the Lexus RX350 run away with the Automobile of the Year title for the Premium/Luxury category registering back-to-back wins but in a more challenging fashion this year with 3 other models hot on its heels all throughout the polling period that ended midnight of October 31.

A total of 12 models were also given recognition as the year’s ‘most preferred models’ in the Standard category while 10 Premium/Luxury models earned their similar ‘Models of the Year’ (MOY) awards. 

Honda brought home the most number of MOY awards with 6 in the Standard category: City (Subcompact), Civic (Compact Sedan), Accord (Midsize Sedan), BR-V (Subcompact SUV/Crossover), CR-V (Compact SUV/Crossover), and Pilot (Large SUV/Crossover).

Toyota snatched 2 wins: Wigo (Mini) and Hilux (Pickup), which was matched by Mitsubishi: Adventure (MPV) and Montero Sport (Midsize SUV/Crossover). One award each went to the Subaru WRX (Sports Car) and the Nissan Urvan (Van).

For the Premium/Luxury MOY awards, the RX350 (Midsize SUV/Crossover) led 6 other Lexus models into the winners’ circle: IS360 (Compact Sedan), ES350 (Midsize Sedan), LS460 (Large Sedan), RCF (Sports Car), NX200t (Compact SUV/Crossover), and the LX570 (Large SUV/Crossover). One title each was awarded to the BMW 1-Series (Sub-compact), Mercedes Benz B-Class (MPV) and the Honda Odyssey (Van).

The other half of the evening’s award-giving ceremonies was set aside for the exacting choices of the motoring media. As this started, excitement mounted among guests from the local auto industry composed of top executives and their associates lead by Ms. Maricar Parco, president of Asian Carmakers (BMW), Noriyuki Takakura, president of Honda Cars Philippines, Frankie Ang, COO of Auto Nation Group (Mercedes-Benz), Glen Dasig, president of Euro Brands Distributor (Peugeot), Atty. Albert Arcilla, president of Car Covenant Company (Chevrolet), Raymond Rodriguez, president of Lexus-Manila, Shojiro Sakoda, EVP (Isuzu Philippines), Dave Macasadia, managing director of Ssangyong Philippines, Froy Dytianquin, first VP (Mitsubishi Philippines), Art Balmadrid, vice president of Taj Auto Group (Tata) Franz Decloedt, marketing director (Volkswagen Philippines), Christopher Yu, senior marketing mgr. (Volvo Philippines), Dave Asuncion, GM sales & marketing (Mazda Philippines) and marketing executives, Dino Obias and Dax Avenido (Nissan Philippines).      

Due recognition was conferred upon winners of the “2017-2018 Auto Focus Media’s Choice Awards” (AFMCA), an equally important component of STV’s Automobile Industry Merit Program. The AFMCA’s aim is to further recognize the automobile industry’s continuing efforts to provide car owners and motorists with the best on-board features, styling, performance and overall value. A select group of recognized motoring media professionals and practitioners comprised the AFMCA Voters’ Panel for a special poll that was held at the STV office on Wednesday, October 18 and witnessed by key automobile representatives. The AFMCA awards maintain strict majority criteria. A ‘Media’s Choice Award’ may only be earned via a majority percentage of the total votes cast in a model’s specific performance category. There were only 47 winners out of the 88 award categories.

Here are the winners:

Best Design - Standard: 7 Awardees (MPV)

Chevrolet Spark (Mini); Mazda 2 (Subcompact Sedan); Honda Civic (Compact Sedan); Mazda MX-5 (Sports Car); SsangYong Tivoli (Subcompact SUV/Crossover); Ford Explorer (Large SUV/Crossover); Toyota Innova (MPV)

Best Design - Premium/Luxury: 5 Awardees

Lexus IS350 (Compact Sedan); BMW 5-Series (Midsize Sedan); Lexus RX350 (Midsize SUV); Mercedes Benz B-Class (MPV);  Toyota Alphard (Van)

Best Engine Performance - Standard: 8 Awardees

Honda Brio (Mini); Mazda 2 (Subcompact Sedan); Honda Civic (Compact Sedan); Ford Mustang (Sports Car); Subaru XV (Subcompact SUV/Crossover); Mitsubishi Montero Sport (Midsize SUV/Crossover); Toyota Innova (MPV); Hyundai Grand Starex (Van)

Best Engine Performance – Premium/Luxury: 7 Awardees

MINI Cooper (Subcompact Sedan); BMW 5-Series (Midsize Sedan); Porsche Panamera (Large Sedan); Porsche Macan (Compact SUV/Crossover); Porsche Cayenne (midsize SUV/Crossover); BMW 2-Series Active Tourer (MPV); Toyota Alphard (Van)                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Best Safety Features – Standard: 4 Awardees

Mitsubishi Montero Sport (Midsize SUV); Ford Explorer (Large SUV/Crossover); Ford Ranger (Pick-up); Volkswagen Touran (MPV)

Best Safety Features – Premium/Luxury: 6 Awardees

Mercedes Benz A-Class (Sub-compact Sedan); Volvo S90 (Large Sedan); Volvo V60 Cross Country (Midsize SUV/Crossover); Volvo XC-90 (Large SUV/Crossover); Mercedes Benz B-Class (MPV); Mercedes Benz V-Class (Van)

Best Value-for-Money – Standard: 6 Awardees

Suzuki Celerio (Mini); Toyota 86 (Sports Car); Nissan Juke (Subcompact SUV/Crossover); Isuzu MU-X (Midsize SUV/Crossover); Isuzu DMax (Pickup)

Best Value-for-Money – Premium/Luxury: 5 Awardees

Lexus IS350 (Compact Sedan); ES350 (Midsize Sedan); Toyota Land Cruiser 200 (Large SUV); Peugeot 5008 (MPV); Honda Odyssey (Van)

Congratulations to all the winners!

In a few weeks time we shall have a TV Special featuring the awarding, which will be shown on Auto Focus (Solar Sports, 10PM Thursday) and online TV Streaming on (www.autofocus.com.ph).

Happy Motoring!!!

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