Toyota RAV4 wins Japan Car of the Year
Toyota’s RAV4 has driven away with the top honour at the 2019 Japan Car of the Year awards, beating off hot competition from Mazda and BMW.
The event, which is in its 40th year, sought the views of about 60 jurors and announced the winners during a ceremony in Tokyo.
Pre-ceremony hype predicted a three-way battle for the top prize between the RAV4, the Mazda3 and the BMW 3 Series.
The RAV4 emerged as the clear victor with 436 votes, followed by the Mazda3 with 328 votes and the BMW model gained 290 votes and also won the Import Car trophy. Rounding out the top six was the Toyota Corolla, the Jaguar I-PACE and the Jeep Wrangler respectively.
The Wrangler collected the Emotional Award for its on and off-road capabilities, the Nissan Skyline won the Innovation Award for its world-first ProPilot 2.0 “hands-off” semi-autonomous driving system, and the Small Mobility trophy went to the Mitsubishi eK Cross and Nissan Dayz.
