The new Citroen C4, Honda Jazz, Peugeot 2008, Seat Leon, Skoda Octavia and Toyota Yaris – finalists for the ‘AUTOBEST 2021’ award- participated in the Final Test in Austria. Following the long tradition pioneered by AUTOBEST two decades ago, this year, the proving ground of OAMTC Teesdorf was the main stage of extended testing of no less than 18 cars shipped in Austria from more European countries. Citroen e-C4 and Seat Leon plug-in hybrid count as two world premieres, as the AUTOBEST Jury members been the very first journalists to drive these novelties. The previous day, the jury members performed on-road drive tests in this superb area of Lower Austria.
“Taking into consideration the pandemic conditions, successfully organising the AUTOBEST Final Test is more like a miracle! It was the only European motoring media event in these difficult times. I personally want to thank all our Jury members who did their utmost to participate and also to the manufacturers in the Final, making all the efforts to be very well represented. We have excellent cooperation with the OEAMTC Fahrtechnik organisation who conceived the most demanding tests for Finalist models, yet. Finally, the organisation team deserves applause, starting with dr Gerhard Kuntschik, AUTOBEST Jury VicePresident. At AUTOBEST, we are familiar with “mission impossible”. This edition of Final Test was another one turned possible and highly regarded by all the stakeholders, journalists, car industry and consumers all around Europe,” stated Dan Vardie, Founder & Chairman of AUTOBEST organisation.
These cars will compete for the prize of ‘Best Buy Car of Europe in 2021’. The Jury of 31 members from 31 countries will make their final assessments and cast their votes in the upcoming weeks, with the winner announced in mid-December.
With the occasion of Final Test event, the AUTOBEST Jury members voted several awards of this year, including one special prize: ‘A Star is Born’.
The Jury votes for ‘A STAR IS BORN 2020’ award in favour of Citroen Ami. Our unique award recognises revolutionary mobility solutions, new start-ups and brands with brilliant new approaches for our crowded modern mobility. This two-seat electric car has been primarily designed with modern-day urban mobility in mind. It is available to users through very affordable purchase and rental schemes, including non-traditional automotive retail outlets. The innovative use of a telephone that replaces many functions of the vehicle increases the appeal to younger users in many countries, introducing them to locally emission-free driving at an earlier age. Citroën Ami could be the ideal solution for individual passenger transport in European cities of the near future – with electric drive, easy charging and minimal space requirements on the road and for parking. Ami might be signalling a new path for Citroen, beyond classic cars, but in line with the brand DNA and the spirit of Andre Citroen.
Skoda Auto is the winner of COMPANYBEST 2020 award. The growth of Skoda in new car registrations in recent years was as impressive as the gains in market shares in many markets. Technical innovations, attractive design, a customer-orientated widening of the model range, digitalisation of production “dProduction”, manufacturing of BEV and ICE cars on the same line and the continuing principle of “simply clever” ideas justify Skoda in being awarded the prestigious COMPANYBEST Award.
The recipient of the DESIGNBEST 2020 award is Frank Stephenson. Our DESIGNBEST Hall of Fame recognises the true legends among car designers and the new inductee is a perfect match. He has played a role in many iconic cars which increase the heart rate in all of us including the Ford Escort RS Cosworth, BMW X5, Maserati MC12, Ferrari FXX, McLaren MP4-12C, but also the MINI Cooper and Fiat 500. All of these, and many others, carry Frank’s name. He looks to animals for inspiration and uses classical design methods from sketches through to computer graphics to clay models. In 2018 he established Frank Stephenson Design Consultancy where he continues to work on a variety of projects including those outside of the automotive sphere.
The SMARTBEST 2020 award goes to Jaguar Land Rover for its Pivi Pro infotainment system that is rolling out across its model range. It features a dual-sim design to enable more efficient over-the-air updates and data connectivity for the car. Initially implemented in astronautics and aviation, Jaguar Land Rover is the first car maker in the world to implement such dual-sim setup, giving numerous advantages in front of world leaders like Tesla, including better protection to cyberattacks. Not to mention the simplicity in operation as the driver can focus on driving only- access to 90 per cent of commonly used functions from the display with a maximum of two clicks. Furthermore, the hardware is among the most advanced and powerful to feature in a car, giving users the type of experience that is now expected in their highly-connected lives.
This year the SAFETYBEST 2020 award goes to Toyota for its development and fitment of the centre airbag in the new Yaris. It is a first in the European B segment. Including this vital piece of safety equipment in one of its smallest cars continues the democratisation of such technology and also played a crucial role in the Yaris scoring highly in the latest Euro NCAP test. AUTOBEST implemented this award two decades ago, been one the very first independent motoring media Juries around the world, valuing the crucial importance of safety for consumers. Toyota is brilliantly fulfilling our criteria to be this year winner.
Torger Christian ‘Toto’ Wolff – winner of SPORTBEST 2020 award – took over the lead of Mercedes-Benz motorsports in 2013 and formed a team that remained unbeaten in championships for the years to follow. Under Wolff’s leadership, Mercedes AMG has enjoyed a series of championship wins unprecedented in Formula One. As of now, the Vienna-born former racer and businessman guided the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team to seven FIA World constructors championships and his drivers, Lewis Hamilton (6) and Nico Rosberg (1), to seven drivers championships. Wolff thus became the most successful team principal in Formula One of all time.
The other AUTOBEST Jury awards, MANBEST, ECOBEST and TECHNOBEST, will be voted and communicated at a later date. As a world premiere, the Jury will also launch a completely new award named `The Future is Here` This brand new prize is dedicated to a concept car brilliantly previewing the future of motoring in any possible aspect. It is the most complex to decide but in line with our Jury members expertise and motoring experience.
AUTOBEST Jury members represent 31 European countries, making it the largest Independent Motoring Jury in the world by the number of represented countries. AUTOBEST Jury pays close attention to the efforts the automotive industry is making. Investments, new automotive job opportunities for people, funds for green cars and technologies, the support for different regions of Europe are all carefully checked and appreciated by the Jury. New in-car technologies and connectivity are also under the scrutiny of the Jury. In total, we dedicate eight awards to these achievements in the following categories; MANBEST, COMPANYBEST, ECOBEST, DESIGNBEST, TECHNOBEST, SAFETYBEST, SMARTBEST and SPORTBEST.
The 20th awards ceremony will take place next year at a date and location to be confirmed pending the various sanitary conditions in different countries of Europe. This year edition of AUTOBEST Awards Gala was in Mainz, Germany, on February 13th bringing together a record number of top executives from various companies and organisations.
The AUTOBEST Awards Gala has evolved over the last 20 years from a distinguished dinner in a five-star location to a European Gala with world-class artistic content, gourmet menu and a unique Grand Finale for the AUTOBEST Award. More info on www.autobest.org.
