The Indian Car and Motorcycle of the Year 2016 (ICOTY and IMOTY) were announced at a glittering ceremony in Delhi yesterday. On behalf of the Juries of ICOTY and IMOTY 2016, Dr. Raghupati Singhania, chairman & managing director, JK Tyre & Industries Limited, handed over the trophies to the teams from Hyundai Motor India Ltd. and India Yamaha Motor.

These titles have emerged as the most credible and coveted award and are now the ‘Oscars’ of Indian automotive awards. They are an expert and independent judgment of the best new car and motorcycle, and have been getting increasingly prominent with each passing year. JK Tyre has been sponsoring the award ceremony of the ICOTY and IMOTY ever since their inception in 2005 and 2008 respectively.

Congratulating the winners, Dr. Singhania said, “The automobile and auto-ancillary sector in India is growing at a fast pace. The consumer is ever-discerning and automakers seek to outperform each other. In such a competitive environment, JK Tyre and the ICOTY & IMOTY Awards endeavour to recognise those who break the clutter with their innovation and deep understanding of the Indian consumer. Congratulations to Hyundai and Yamaha for sailing through the rigorous judging process and emerging victorious.”

Several new cars and motorcycles launched in 2015 qualified for these awards, and they made it to the final jury round held in Lonavala at Khushru Patel’s beautiful bungalow on 4th December, 2015. The top three ICOTY contenders were the Hyundai Creta, Maruti Suzuki Baleno and Renault Kwid, while the top three motorcycles were the Yamaha R3, the Benelli TNT300 and the Honda CB650F

The specialist juries (both of which MW is a part of) consisting of senior Indian automotive journalists is the best from the industry and together they have over 200 years of evaluation experience. They are known for their analytical skills and competence in evaluating and testing, as a part of their profession, and the voting process has been designed to be very fair and unbiased and tamper proof. Thanks to all this, the ICOTY and IMOTY trophies are the ones every manufacture wants to win. The awards are in line with international standards and modelled on the American Car of the Year, European Car of the Year and Japanese Car of the Year.

The eligible contenders are judged on various parameters such as price, fuel efficiency, styling, comfort, safety, features, performance, practicality, technical innovation, value for money and, above all, suitability for Indian consumers and driving conditions.