This does not come as a surprise though, but Hyundai Elite i20 has won the 2015 Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) award. Elite i20 has been receiving accolades, both from critics as well as customers right since its launch. This car has become one of the best-selling models in the country with superb performance every month. It has just been four months since its launch and the car has been able to grab more than 60000 bookings as well as 32000 have reached customers. There was quite a competition among the top performers of this season – Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, Honda City and Hyundai Elite i20. This was the tenth edition of the Indian Car of the Year Awards and the three cars were battling hard for the top honours.
This award has also allowed Hyundai to boast of another landmark. Previous year, this manufacturer was able to win the coveted title on the shoulders of its Grand i10. This makes it the first manufacturer to win the title for a consecutive second time. Also, this makes it Hyundai the only car maker to win the coveted prize for three years – 2008 (i10), 2013 (Grand i10) and 2014 (Elite i20). The Jury for 2015 ICOTY were Bob Rupani (Chairman), Yogendra Pratap (Auto Bild), Rahul Ghosh (Auto Bild), Dhruv Behl (Auto X), Arup Das (Auto X), Rohin Nagrani (Motoring World), Kartik Ware (Motoring World), Aspi Bhathena (Car India), Aninda Sarda (Car India), Bertrand D'souza (Overdrive), Halley Prabhakar (Overdrive), Girish Karkera (BBC Top Gear), Murali Menon (BBC Top Gear), Sirish Chandran (Evo India), Ouseph Chacko (Evo India) and Muralidhar Swaminathan (The Hindu Business Line).
BS Seo, the Managing Director and CEO of HMIL, said on the occasion, “We are honoured to win the most prestigious automotive award - The Indian car of the Year 2015 for our world-class product Elite i20. Winning 2 successive ICOTY awards symbolizes Hyundai’s commitment to Indian customers by offering world class standards of quality products, design and branding. With this, we intend to thank all our customers, media and jurors who have chosen Elitei20 as the Indian Car of the year and made Hyundai as the most loved and trusted car manufacturer in India and global markets. With such a challenging spirit, we will be consistently pursuing the development of Modern Premium technologies to innovate at every step to strengthen our brand globally and our brands with the customers.”
Bob Rupani, Founder Member of ICOTY and Chairman of the Jury for this edition, congratulated the winning car and said, “The 2015 "Indian Car of the Year" title represents the most prestigious recognition for the Elite i20, which embodies the Hyundai’s values of excellence. In our collective votes it has come out on top as a whole package which has led its way from innovation, design, superior technology, safety and value for money. It was very challenging to select one product for from the entire line-up of the contenders, since all the products have done very well in their respective segments and I am happy to see a car as good as the Elite i20 being awarded as ICOTY 2015. I am very happy that the entire Indian automobile industry now recognizes ICOTY as the most credible automobile award in India. It is the one award that every auto manufacturer aspires to win, as it is the ultimate recognition of their product. A very fair voting system and an extremely qualified jury ensure that the best car for that particular year wins this award.”
