And Now There Are Three

February 5, 2018 by Media press release Leave a Comment

TORONTO, Feb. 5, 2018 /CNW/ – Six vehicles edged closer today to the ultimate goal of being named 2018 Canadian Car of the Year and 2018 Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC).

Mazda will be hopeful for an accolade – three of the auto maker’s new vehicles made the final cut.

This year, voting was expanded to include all new vehicles available to Canadian buyers, not just those vehicles new to the market. For the first time, nearly 100 of AJAC’s voting journalists were able to directly score vehicles against their competition, whether they were all-new for 2018 or returning popular models. Almost 3,000 ballots were cast on 182 vehicles. If we drove them, then we had an opinion on them – and we passed that opinion on through an anonymous system of standardized voting to determine which vehicles are the best of them all.

The three cars and three utility vehicles were chosen in a separate, second round of voting by AJAC’s journalists from the 14 vehicles that were named the best in their segments earlier this year at the Montreal Auto Show. The voting process was a simple one: AJAC members were asked which, of the segment-winning vehicles they’d driven and experienced, most deserve to be named the best car and utility vehicle for 2018.

The three cars in the final running are the Honda Accord (Best Large Car in Canada), Mazda 3 (Best Small Car in Canada), and Volvo S90/V90 (Best Large Premium Car in Canada).

The three utility vehicles in the final running are the Chrysler Pacifica (Best Minivan in Canada), Mazda CX-5 (Best Small Utility Vehicle in Canada), and Mazda CX-9 (Best Large Utility Vehicle in Canada).

All six will be on stage February 15 at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto for the announcement of the ultimate winners. Until the envelope is opened then on stage, the results are a closely guarded secret, known only to the auditing firm of KPMG. The announcement and presentations will take place in the John Bassett Theatre at 8 am.

AJAC announces category winners for 2018 Canadian Car of the Year and 2018 Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year

January 19, 2018 by Media press release Leave a Comment

Seven vehicle manufacturers moved closer today to winning the ultimate accolades of 2018 Canadian Car of the Year and 2018 Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year. Their wins in 14 different categories were announced during media day of the Montreal International Auto Show / Salon de l’Auto.

The big winners were Mazda and Jaguar Land Rover, with three wins each. Honda/Acura, Volkswagen and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles won two categories each.

Category winners were chosen by nearly 100 voting members of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada, who assessed the vehicles throughout the year by driving them and testing them in a variety of conditions. They were scored anonymously on many different factors, including performance, features, technology, design, fuel consumption and value for money, and the highest scorers in each category were declared the winners.

“Our voting policy was changed this year to make it more relevant for today’s car buyers,” said AJAC President Mark Richardson. “Our journalists are all experts in their automotive fields, and I’m very proud of their ability to help people decide on the best new vehicles to buy in 2018.”

All 14 category winners are now eligible to be considered for either Canadian Car of the Year or Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year, which will be determined by a separate round of voting. The winners will be announced next month, on media day of the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto on Feb. 15.

Category winners announced today are:

BEST CITY CAR IN CANADA FOR 2018
Volkswagen e-Golf

BEST SMALL CAR IN CANADA FOR 2018
Mazda3

BEST LARGE CAR IN CANADA FOR 2018
Honda Accord

BEST SMALL PREMIUM CAR IN CANADA FOR 2018

Jaguar XE

BEST LARGE PREMIUM CAR IN CANADA FOR 2018

Volvo S90 / V90

BEST SPORTS – PERFORMANCE CAR IN CANADA FOR 2018

Volkswagen Golf R

BEST PREMIUM SPORTS – PERFORMANCE CAR IN CANADA FOR 2018

Jaguar F-TYPE

BEST CONVERTIBLE IN CANADA FOR 2018
Mercedes-Benz SL

BEST SMALL UTILITY VEHICLE IN CANADA FOR 2018

Mazda CX-5

BEST LARGE UTILITY VEHICLE IN CANADA FOR 2018

Mazda CX-9

BEST SMALL PREMIUM UTILITY VEHICLE IN CANADA FOR 2018

Range Rover Velar

BEST LARGE PREMIUM UTILITY VEHICLE IN CANADA FOR 2018

Acura MDX

BEST MINIVAN IN CANADA FOR 2018
Chrysler Pacifica

BEST PICK-UP TRUCK IN CANADA FOR 2018
Ram 1500

AJAC announces 2018 Canadian Car of the Year category finalists

December 18, 2017 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

For the third year in a row, the Automobile Journalists Association spent a couple of days at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Southern Ontario, to finalize testing for vehicles which are eligible for the Canadian Car of the Year awards.

For this year’s program, the format changed somewhat in order to allow Canada’s top journalists to test more vehicles. The experts were able to vote for vehicles they have driven all year long, while the event, known in the industry as Testfest, allowed them to get seat time in vehicles which might not have been available to them for testing in their home market.

The vehicles evaluated are then scored by the journalists to rank them in relation to other vehicles in their market segment in order to determine the top vehicle available to Canadian consumers.

Once the scores have been tabulated, the top three finalists in each category are announced. That list was released today.

And the finalists are:

Best City Car in Canada for 2018:

Hyundai Ioniq Electric

Nissan Micra

Volkswagen e-Golf

Best Small Car in Canada for 2018:

Chevrolet Bolt EV

Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid/PHEV

Mazda3

Best Large Car in Canada for 2018:

Honda Accord

Mazda6

Toyota Camry

Best Small Premium Car in Canada for 2018:

Alfa Romeo Giulia

Infiniti Q60

Jaguar XE

Best Large Premium Car in Canada for 2018:

Genesis G80

Lexus LC

Volvo S90 / V90

Best Sports – Performance Car in Canada for 2018:

Honda Civic Si

Honda Civic Type R

Volkswagen Golf R

Best Premium Sports – Performance Car in Canada for 2018:

Jaguar F-TYPE

Porsche 718

Porsche 911

Best Convertible in Canada for 2018:

Mazda MX-5

Mercedes-Benz SL

Porsche 718 Boxster

Best Small Utility Vehicle in Canada for 2018:

Honda CR-V

Mazda CX-5

Nissan Rogue

Best Large Utility Vehicle in Canada for 2018:

Chevrolet Traverse

Mazda CX-9

Toyota Highlander

Best Small Premium Utility Vehicle in Canada for 2018:

Porsche Macan

Range Rover Velar

Volvo XC60

Best Large Premium Utility Vehicle in Canada for 2018:

Acura MDX

Land Rover Discovery

Volvo XC90

Best Minivan in Canada for 2018:

Chrysler Pacifica

Honda Odyssey

Kia Sedona

Best Pick-up Truck in Canada for 2018:

Honda Ridgeline

Ram 1500

Toyota Tundra

Category winners will be announced at the Montreal Auto Show on January 18. The 2018 Canadian Car of the Year and 2018 Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year will be chosen from those 14 winners and will be announced at the Canadian International AutoShow in downtown Toronto on February 15.

Photo credit: Jordan Lenssen for AJAC

Subaru and Volkswagen take top honours in Canadian Car of the Year Awards

February 16, 2017 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

In a live reveal this morning at the fantastic John Basset Theatre in downtown Toronto, the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada announced the Canadian Car/Utility Vehicle of the Year.

As I have for the past number of years, I had the honour of announcing the Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year, which for 2017 is the Subaru Forester. Program director David Taylor joined me in the announcement, by crowning the Volkswagen Alltrack the Canadian Car of the Year.

: CCOTY Director David Taylor presents the Canadian Car of the Year Award to Volkswagen Canada President and CEO Maria Stenström

: Subaru Canada Vice President Ted Lalka accepts award from CCOTY Co-Chair Gary Grant

Since 1985, AJAC has named the Canadian Car of the Year as a tool to aid consumers who are researching a new vehicle purchase. As the program has evolved over the years, the Canadian Truck of the Year distinction was added and then morphed into the Utility title in a nod to the increasing presence of crossover vehicles into the light truck segment.

A full year of planning goes into the award each year, the highlight of which is the annual Testfest event, where Canada’s top automotive journalists spend the better part of a week evaluating vehicles. Of course the awards ceremony is the most visible and important aspect of the program, but while a week of testing cars is actually work, it is good fun too.

This was the program’s first year on the stage in the stunning John W.H. Basset theatre, having opened the show in past years, in a secondary hall in the South building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The announcements followed the global unveiling of Aston Martin’s stunning new AM-RB 001 concept vehicle. The combination of the two events kicked off the show in a fashion more in keeping with some of the more prominent shows on the global circuit. More on that in a story to follow.

Photo credit Michelle Siu via AJAC
Video credit James Davidson & Sam Fellows via AJAC

AJAC announces 2017 Best New Technology Awards for Innovation and Safety

January 20, 2017 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

An important part of the Canadian Car of the Year award program, the Best New Technology awards are a program to acknowledge excellence in the development of new features which are either innovative or improve driving safety.

While I am one of the co-chairman of the CCOTY program, I tend to stay away from the tech awards, mainly because I just don’t have the time to deal with another aspect of the program. Sometimes that is a shame, as there are some really cool new technologies out there that change the way we drive and the evaluation team researches them in depth.

This year’s winners are:

AJAC press release

January 19, 2017 – Montreal: Two “Best New Technology” award winners were announced today by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) at the Montreal International Auto Show.

BEST NEW SAFETY TECHNOLOGY for 2017
Volvo Pilot Assist II, Large Animal Detection, Run-off Road mitigation is the winner of the BEST NEW SAFETY TECHNOLOGY FOR 2017.
“Pilot Assist II is actually three systems using camera and radar technology to help keep drivers and passengers safe,” says Technology Panel Chair, Jim Kerr. “The Pilot assist feature can control acceleration, braking and steering up to 130 km/h to help keep the S90 in its lane at speed. Run off road mitigation keeps the vehicle on the road by applying braking and steering forces if an impending road departure is sensed. Large animal detection senses the density of larger animals such as deer, moose and coyotes within about a 200 meter range, to determine if they pose a danger, warn the driver and automatically brake the vehicle to mitigate a collision if the driver takes no action. These features are semi-autonomous, giving the driver full control of the vehicle at all times while using automatic control to assist when required.”

Finalists in this category included:
GENERAL MOTORS: ONstar ProActive Alerts
GENRAL MOTORS: Rear Seat Reminder
MERCEDES-BENZ: PRE-SAFE Sound
SUBARU: Global Platform
TOYOTA: Safety Sense P Package

BEST NEW INNOVATION TECHNOLOGY for 2017
Mazda G-Vectoring Control (GVC) is the winner of the BEST NEW INNOVATION TECHNOLOGY FOR 2017.
“So subtle that most drivers won’t even be aware of the feature operating, G-Vectoring control enhances the vehicle’s feel of stability and smoothness by controlling engine power in almost imperceptible time frames to shift the weight balance of the car,” says Technology Panel Chair, Jim Kerr. “For passengers, the result is a comfortable and more relaxing ride. For drivers, GVC reduces small steering wheel inputs by almost 50% and provides a feeling of linear control of the steering on all types of roads and road surfaces.”

Finalists in this category included:
FORD: Pro-Trailer Assist
MAZDA: SKYACTIV-G 2.5T Engine
GENERAL MOTORS: Position Sensitive Spool Valve Damper

The awards are judged by a panel of 12 automotive journalists who are all technology specialists. As a first step, they independently reviewed overview briefs on all the technology entries submitted by automakers.

From that initial review, by secret vote, the jurors established a shortlist of finalists. Then, in early December, they convened in Toronto for a day of presentations by manufacturers’ representatives on each of their shortlisted entries and a chance to grille them with questions. The jurors then voted a second time, again by secret ballot.

As with the Canadian Car of the Year awards program, those votes were compiled by the accounting firm, KPMG and kept secret until the announcement today.

The “Best New Technology” awards are part of the association’s annual Canadian Car of the Year Awards program, created in 1985 to provide consumers with sound, comparative information on vehicles that are new to the market.

Eight “Best New” Winners Announced for 2017 AJAC’s 2017 Canadian Car of the Year Awards

December 6, 2016 by Media press release Leave a Comment

BEST NEW SMALL CAR Hyundai Elantra, with 682 points, and scoring highest in Value. 2nd place Chevrolet Cruze with 680 points. 3rd place Subaru Impreza with 679 points. (Left: Don Romano, President and CEO, Hyundai Auto Canada Corp., Right: David Taylor, CCOTY Committee Member)

TORONTO, Dec. 6, 2016 /CNW/ – Eight “Best New” category winners were announced today by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada, better known as AJAC. The results were tabulated by KPMG, the accounting firm that works with the association and its Canadian Car of the Year awards.

The eight “Best New” categories cover the full new-model spectrum, including Best New Small Car, Best New Sports/Performance Car, and Best New Utility Vehicle. Most of these core categories are then further broken down into Small, Large and Premium to cover a wide range of types of vehicles.

The vehicles named will now compete for the overall Canadian Car of the Year and Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year honours, which will be announced at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto next February. AJAC will also announce the winners of its Canadian Green Car of the Year awards at the Vancouver International Auto Show in March.

The category winners represent the voting results by the largest group of Canada’s best-known automotive journalists, who gathered this October in Clarington, Ontario for a four-day test-drive evaluation of brand-new or significantly changed models. The event, known as “TestFest,” was hosted by Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, and welcomed Michelin, BF Goodrich, Canadian Black Book and the Steel Market Development Institute as partners, for this year’s program.

“TestFest is the most intensive new-vehicle evaluation process on the planet,” said Gary Grant, co-chair of the Canadian Car of the Year committee. “No other organization employs such stringent testing methods to determine its award winners.”

The rigorous testing program includes real-world driving on public roads, exactly where consumers drive, so the test data and vote results are directly relevant to potential car and utility vehicle buyers. The results are not based on the personal opinion of just one or two journalists. Instead, over 60 automotive journalists each drove vehicles in their categories back-to-back on the same day, under the same conditions, to ensure fair and objective comparisons.

“Our program is absolutely testing-based,” said Justin Pritchard, co-chair of the Canadian Car of the Year committee. “We have dozens of experienced vehicle testers driving dozens of vehicles, back to back, over the course of several days. This testing process generated 1,384 test drives, producing over 100,000 data points and 1058 category ballots. It’s important to note that every aspect of this testing data is shared online via our website, so shoppers can see how any given vehicle won its category, or how it stacked up to the category winner.”

Data driven and Canadian expertise: That’s what makes an AJAC winner.

And the winners are…..:

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WINNERS
2017 CANADIAN CAR OF THE YEAR
“BEST NEW” CATEGORY FINALISTS

BEST NEW SMALL CAR
Hyundai Elantra, with 682 points, and scoring highest in Value.
2nd place Chevrolet Cruze with 680 points.
3rd place Subaru Impreza with 679 points.

BEST NEW LARGE CAR
Volkswagen Golf (Alltrack), with 680 points, and scoring highest in Exterior Styling, Throttle and Engine & Transmission Performance.
2nd place Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid with 674 points.
3rd place Kia Optima HEV with 672 points.

BEST NEW LARGE PREMIUM CAR
Buick LaCrosse, with 656 points, and scoring highest in Fuel Efficiency.
2nd place Volvo S90 with 655 points.
3rd place Mercedes-Benz E-Class (E 300 4MATIC) with 653 points.

BEST NEW SPORTS / PERFORMANCE CAR
Hyundai Elantra (Sport), with 682 points, and scoring highest in Occupant Environment and Ride Dynamics.
2nd place Ford Focus RS with 670 points.
3rd place Fiat 124 Spider with 637 points.

BEST NEW PREMIUM SPORTS / PERFORMANCE CAR
BMW M2, with 658 points, and scoring highest in Value.
2nd place Porsche 911 (Carrera 4S) with 656 points.
3rd place Mercedes-AMG C-Class Coupe (AMG C 63 S) with 648 points.

BEST NEW SMALL UTILITY
Subaru Forester, with 678 points, and scoring highest in Value, Off-Road Capability and Occupant Environnent.
2nd place Ford Escape with 670 points.
3rd place Kia Sportage with 664 points.

BEST NEW LARGE UTILITY
Chrysler Pacifica, with 664 points, and scoring highest in Interior Styling, Occupant Environnent and Ride Dynamics.
2nd place Mazda CX-9 with 663 points.
3rd place GMC Acadia with 634 points.

BEST NEW PREMIUM UTILITY VEHICLE
Mercedes-Benz GLC (GLC 300 4MATIC), with 658 points, and scoring highest in Value, Noise, Vibration and Harshness (N/V/H).
2nd place Buick Envision with 654 points.
3rd place Cadillac XT-5 with 650 points.

Small car scribbles

November 15, 2016 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

In addition to organizing the Canadian Car of the Year awards testfest event last month, I had also been tasked by a print editor to evaluate the small car category. Doing double duty means that I typically don’t have time to actually write about the cars during the event.

Unlike some of the old guard, paper note pads aren’t my thing. Instead, I use Google Keep, which allows me to keep great notes. It occurred to me while writing the story yesterday that it also allows me to share my scribbles with you.

In no particular order, here are my roadside observations of the vehicles entered in small car this year.

Chevrolet Spark

Hyundai Elantra

Subaru Impreza

Mini Cooper Clubman

Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback

AJAC hosts inaugural Executive Forum at Testfest

November 2, 2016 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

Historically, the event known at Testfest, where vehicles are evaluated for the Canadian Car of the Year awards is an uninterrupted week of vehicle evaluations. The Automobile Journalists Association of Canada switched things up a bit this year with the introduction of a panel of automotive executives.

Assembled by David Taylor and David Miller, the forum brought together five of the country’s brightest automotive minds to discuss their views of the future of the automobile. Moderated by veteran journalist Mark Richardson, the panel included David Patterson, Vice President of Corporate Affairs at General Motors of Canada, Wolfgang Hoffmann, President of Jaguar Land Rover Canada, Francois Lefevre, Nissan Canada’s Chief of marketing for Leaf, Don Romano, President CEO of Hyundai Canada and Ted Lancaster, Vice President & COO of Kia Canada.

There were lots of decent quotes to pull from, but the reality is that the entire discussion was legitimately interesting. Even if you don’t have interest in the business side of things, but have a passion for cars, the entire hour of the panel is worth watching.

Image credit: Ivan Novotny & John Walker for AJAC
Video credit: James Davidson & Sam Fellows for AJAC

Video: This is Testfest

October 31, 2016 by Gary Grant 1 Comment

In addition to his daily duties at Testfest, my Co-Chair partner Justin Pritchard also took some time out during the week to shoot some video of some of the testing in progress.

In his first video from Canadian Car of the Year testing, Pritchard visits the off-road portion of the program to show how journalists learn how each vehicle performs with limited traction.

Video: Day 2 at Testfest

October 27, 2016 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

Winter has arrived early here at Canada’s home of motorsport, with cold temperatures and a delightful mix of rain, sleet and snow pelting AJAC journalists this morning. Quite a change from yesterday, when skies were still bright and sunny.

Yours truly is featured in yesterday’s wrap up video, explaining why the Canadian Car of the Year program is such an important tool for Canadian consumers.