AUTOBEST is The independent motoring Jury of the Fast Growing and Relevant Markets of Europe
The Istanbul festivity was one of the best in AUTOBEST history
(February 29-th, 2008)
The 7-th edition of AUTOBEST AWARDS festivity took place this year on February 20, at Conrad Hotel, in Istanbul, Turkey. For the ceremony attended over 100 persons, including the 15 members of the jury, top-representative auto journalists from each country represented in the jury, officials from the award winners or even the winners, VIP’s from Turkey, media ( televisions, magazines).
Very important names of the automobiles industry have been present also this year in the Grand Ballroom in Istanbul: Lorenzo Sistino – CEO Fiat Automobiles, Ian Slater – Vice-president Communications Ford Europe, Richard Gadesseli – Vice president Communication Fiat Group Automobiles, Patrick le Quement – Chief designer Renault, Alfredo Altavilla – CEO Fiat powertrain technologies SVP Business Development Fiat Group Automobiles, Bulgurlu Bulent – CEO Koc Holding, Ali Pandir – President, Automotive Group, Koc Holding, Durak Turgay – President, Automotive Group, Koc Holding, Okan Bas – Fiat Business Unit Director.
With a total of 850 points, Fiat Linea, the AUTOBEST 2008 winner, overtook Kia Cee’d with 66 points, Mazda 2 coming in third, with a total of 704 points. 8 members of the Jury selected Fiat Linea as the winner, and other 4 gave the first place to Kia Cee’d. Mazda 2 managed to obtain two clear nr 1 and Skoda Fabia one. Skoda Fabia came 4-th, with 679 points and Toyota Auris 5-th, collecting 428 points.
The Italian word “Linea” has two distinct meanings: style and direction. We naturally wanted to give this car, as we do all of our products, a most distinctive Italian style. Additionally, this car was to meet the ever growing demand of drivers in Eastern Europe, Russia, India, China and South America, where it will eventually be manufactured. Fiat has a long tradition of producing affordable, cleverly designed cars for all and not the few. Intelligent simplicity.
The symbolism of being in Istanbul tonight is strong. Here, where East meets West. This is Linea’s path as it traverse the globe. It was here, last May, that Linea was launched and it is here in Turkey where the first cars came off the production lines of our associate company, Tofas”, Lorenzo Sistino – CEO Fiat Automobiles stated in receiving the AUTOBEST 2008 award.
” It’s a great pleasure to accept this great MANBEST award for 2007, for 2 reasons; firstly, because is coming from Autobest Jury, which is very known group of media across Central Eastern Europe, who represents 15 countries with more than 500 million people, and secondly, because I am just representing a very large group of people in Central and Eastern Europe who really work very hard for GM, so thank you for this recognition!”, said Chris Lacey, “MANBEST 2007”, during a video footage.
” I feel very proud to get such an important prize and I hope in the years to come I’ll be able to justify your trust in me and to be able to make you feel more honored with my future results”, Milos Pavlovic, the winner of SPORTBEST 2007 said.
” I am really delighted to receive this award as I’ve been in this business just over 40 years and 40 years is a magic number in the automobile industry. I’d like to dedicate this prize to the men and women who have made OYAK RENAULT. I really think they made an extraordinary job in the last years; I’d like to celebrate their talent and their motivation ” , said Patrick le Quement, Chief designer of Renault and winner of “DESIGNBEST 2007” award.
The “ECOBEST 2007” award has been received by Mazda Motor Corporation and the diploma was handed to Mrs. Iulia Pamuk, PR Mazda Turkey.
“TECHNOBEST 2007” award went to Volkswagen Group and to receive it, during the festivity, was present Mr. Ing. Jorg Theobald, “Advanced gasoline engines” department. “COMPANYBEST 2007” award, won by Skoda Auto was received by Mr. Petr Podlipny, Head of Skoda Auto Sales Central Europe.
In Istanbul, was also present for the first time to an Autobest festivity, Ioannis Stavropoulos, the 15-th member of the Jury representing Greece. He is a well-known motoring writer, working for “Drivers only”, a very big newspaper of Greece, but also contributing to different other media.
“Although your association was only established in 2000, with just 9 Eastern European members, it has quickly grown to 15 countries, a trading block, the importance of which can not be underestimated”, stated Mr. Lorenzo Sistino.
“Autobest definitely confirmed the approach, a competition delivering answers to many millions of customers in the region –with more than 300 millions of inhabitants! And it is not anymore an territory, but region. Here is the growth of the European industry. Russia is already the third largest market of Europe. Romania and Poland are the biggest fastest growing markets of UE. Ukraine is outstanding and Turkey is on the way to produce more than one million units per year. If today the European car industry has a success is because of the sales in Autobest region”, affirmed Dan Vardie, the Chairman of AUTOBEST, in his speech.
The AUTOBEST Jury would like to thank all the readers from the region for encouraging the project. Also, we would like to thank the PR responsible within the automotive industry for providing all the support in organizing meetings and drive tests of the new products.
