NZ Car of the Year making return
New criteria are being introduced for the AA Driven NZ Car of the Year awards as they make a return in 2021 after a Covid-enforced hiatus.
Gongs will be handed out in 10 different categories, including the return of a “people’s choice” award and a new “clean and green” class.
Eligibility criteria for the contest has been tweaked from previous years, with the awards covering all vehicles on sale rather than just those released in the previous 12 months.
It means cars such as the Ford Focus, which won the Car of the Year title when the awards were last held in 2019, will be eligible in this year’s categories.
The classes for the 2021 awards are small SUV, medium SUV, large SUV, passenger (sedan, hatch, wagon), light commercial vehicle, clean and green (battery electric vehicle, plug-in hybrid, traditional hybrid), sports and performance, luxury (over $100,000), AA safety, and people’s choice.
An overall winner will also be crowned the AA Driven NZ Car of the Year.
Jonathan Sergel, pictured, AA Motoring Services general manager, says he’s looking forward to seeing what vehicles come out on top this year.
“AA Driven NZ COTY covers a full range of criteria for the vehicles including price and value, safety, equipment, features, technology and driving dynamics as well as performance and fuel economy,” he explains.
“With the variety and quality of what’s on the market, and a new clean and green category, it has potential to be a tight competition.”
Dean Evans, editor of Driven, says the adjusting of categories this year reflects the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and government legislation.
“In these Covid times, we’ve had to tailor the programmes to suit, so for this year it was important that we return from the hiatus of 2020 and delve into the best cars on sale, not just from the past 12 months,” he adds
“We’ve also introduced a new clean and green class, highlighting the best choices in the emerging BEV, PHEV and hybrid categories which align with the government’s clean car programme.”
Finalists for the different classes are due to be released over the coming weeks.
