With less than a month remaining until the end of the year, all kinds of “Car of the Year” awards will inadvertently start to pop up. Some, of course, are much more important than others are; and the Japan COTY title belongs to the former category. In 2011, the winner was the Nissan Leaf, which had also been awarded the World and European COTY titles.
This year, Mazda won the crown with its CX-5 compact crossover getting 363 votes, 45 more than the second-placed Toyota GT86/Subaru BRZ “twins”. BMW’s 3-Series was third, while it’s interesting to note that the top 10 was evenly split between Japanese and European models.
“We are thrilled to have the CX-5 receive such a coveted award”, said Mazda Executive Officer Kiyoshi Fujiwara. “Spurred on by this honor, we will continue to dedicate ourselves to the task of crafting cars that only Mazda can, in order to continue winning the support of our fans and customers into the future.”
The CX-5 is the fourth Mazda to win the Japan COTY title, and the first since the MX-5 in 2005. It has proven to be a commercial hit for the company: since sales commenced in February, Mazda has sold more than 128,000 units globally, 37,000 of which in Japan and 33,000 in Europe.
In order to be eligible for this year’s Japan Car of the Year award, a vehicle must have been announced or launched in Japan between November 1, 2011 and October 31, 2012.
By Andrew Tsaousis
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