Mahindra XUV 700 is the ‘Indian Car of The Year 2022’

In a year during which the pandemic still cast its long shadow on the automobile industry, one might have expected a thinned-out range of new car launches. But that wasn't the case, car manufacturers still bet big on a bounce-back of the market. Despite the multiple lockdowns and the sharp rise in fuel prices, latent demand and higher disposable incomes helped the passenger car market recover.

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Passenger car sales stayed stagnant at about 2.7 million vehicles in 2021, but that was largely due to the chip shortage. The massive jump in demand for semi-conductors which led to an inability to produce enough cars meant that while the order book showed a healthy rise in numbers, actual deliveries to customers were a lower number.

In a year filled with uncertainties, the industry's performance is both an indicator of its resilience and the consumer's optimism. The country's most credible automotive award platform, the Indian Car of The Year (ICOTY), an annual recognition of the best from the Indian automotive industry was also a reflection of this strong theme.

A tight voting process

Instead of a narrower selection of vehicles for the final shortlist, the pretty hectic launch calendar for the industry meant during 2021 that there were still 10 finalists. And this was after a fairly tight voting process for the final shortlists by the jury members of the ICOTY. Like the delays faced by the automotive industry, the ICOTY jury round and the award ceremony were both delayed due to the third wave and its related lockdown and restrictions.

The ten contenders from the ICOTY 2022 final shortlist at the the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida | Photo Credit: sanjay raikar

The ICOTY 2022 was the 17th edition of the Indian Car of the Year. Started in 2005, the ICOTY is the most coveted, credible and independent award platform that recognises excellence in manufacturing and marketing cars. This is the only award platform that has seven partner publications that range from trade magazines and a financial daily.

These are competing publications, but have come together to institute an award that is national. Including partner publication jurors and individual jurors, the 17-member jury has a combined car evaluation experience of nearly 350 years. JK Tyre & Industries continues to be the Presenting Sponsor for the ICOTY. JK Tyres has been the only sponsor of the awards since its inception.

The 2022 ICOTY edition also witnessed the addition of a new knowledge and validation partner in consulting and audit brand Deloitte. The consulting biggie oversaw the voting for the awards, the jury round evaluation and ensured that the winners were revealed only at the award ceremony.

This year's jury round happened at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) in Greater Noida, just outside Delhi. The Formula One track is not meant to allow the jury members to attempt evaluating mass-market cars in a hyperdynamic environment, but used more as a location for revisiting the vehicle's proposition and its positioning. The track also, of course, allows us to shoot pictures and bring all the final shortlist vehicles together in one place.

BusinessLine has been a partner publication of the ICOTY since 2013, and the other partner publications are AutoX, Auto Today, Car India, Overdrive, Evo India and Motoring World. In addition, four individual jury members  were selected based on their vehicle evaluation skills and experience. To recognise the growth of the luxury car segment and the unique levels of manufacturing excellence brought to the segment, ICOTY instituted the Premium Car award by ICOTY.

This year was the fourth edition of this award. Similarly, with the rising interest in Electric Vehicles (EVs) and the steady climb in the number of new vehicles here too, the Green Car award by ICOTY was instituted last year.

The Vote speaks

After the jury round at the track, the vote count revealed that the Green Car Award 2022 was won by the Audi e-tron. The shortlist for this category was quite a varied bunch including the Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron, Jaguar iPace, Tata Tigor EV and the Audi e-tron GT.

The Premium Car award by ICOTY shortlist was dominated by the presence of four Mercedes-Benz luxury vehicles. These included the Merc A35 AMG, the Merc A45 AMG, Merc GLA 35 AMG and the Merc S-Class. The only other contestant was the Volvo S60. The winner of the Premium Car Award by ICOTY 2022 was the Mercedes-Benz S-Class – the German luxury car brand's flagship saloon.

As is the case every year, the ICOTY 2022 was a hotly contested award. The 10-car shortlist included the Skoda Octavia and the Kushaq, the Maruti Suzuki Celerio, Renault Kiger, Tata Punch, Mahindra XUV 7OO, the MG Astor, VW Taigun, the Citroen C5 Aircross and the Force Gurkha. And the winner of the Indian Car of the Year 2022 was the Mahindra XUV 7OO – a new SUV that has really redefined the brand Mahindra. Even as the long waiting list for the car shows its popularity, ICOTY continues to be the bell-weather of the Indian car industry.

The vote count for the ICOTY 2022 revealed that the winner was given 101 points, the first runner-up was the Volkswagen Taigun with 89 points and the second runner-up was the Tata Punch with 71 points. The awards were presented at a glittering ceremony held in Delhi on March 9.

The ICOTY is governed by a constitution that is as old as the award platform itself. According to the constitution, all cars that qualify for these awards have to be new models. Existing cars that have had cosmetic facelifts or small mechanical changes, like marginally different power or drive-trains, do not qualify for this award. The country of origin does not matter, but they have to be manufactured or assembled in India and be on sale in showrooms before November 30 of the previous year (2021 for this year's award).

The cars should have been homologated for Indian type approval, but those imported through the CBU route are not considered. Similarly, the selection of the winner is by a simple voting system, where each member of the jury has a maximum of 25 points to assign. Jury members can allot a maximum of 10 points to one car. And every Jury member must give points to at least five of the contending cars. A very fair and transparent system makes the ICOTY the most credible auto award.

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