Vehicle and asset finance company WesBank is no longer the headline sponsor of the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists’ (SAGMJ’s) Car of the Year (COTY) competition.

WesBank has sponsored the annual COTY competition for 32 consecutive years. There have been 33 COTY competitions to date.

Automotive advertising website AutoTrader is the new sponsor of the competition.

“Over the years, this prestigious competition has celebrated excellence in the motoring industry and was a respected accolade for our partner original-equipment manufacturers (OEMs, or vehicle manufacturers) and brands that were awarded the status of COTY,” WesBank says in a statement explaining its departure.

“WesBank’s purpose behind sponsoring the COTY competition was to support and acknowledge the investment our partners make in the industry.

“Three years ago, WesBank engaged the SAGMJ to explore improvements in the competition to ensure that it remains relevant to a changing automotive market, as well as to encourage transformation in the guild. These discussions were supported by key industry stakeholders and were collectively aimed at stimulating the competition,” notes WesBank.

“In recent discussions, the SAGMJ advised us that in order to continue engagements, WesBank would need to tender for the sponsorship of COTY.

“While discussions between WesBank and SAGMJ around these remediation efforts were positive and there was good indication of improvements for the competition, a misalignment of timing in respect of the tender submission window provided by the guild resulted in WesBank not tendering for the sponsorship.”

WesBank says it remains committed to its partnerships and relationships in the automotive industry.

“We believe our current environment requires a modernised and more relevant approach to industry competitions that are aligned to the evolution taking place in South Africa’s automotive industry.

“We are hopeful that the SAGMJ will continue to revive COTY in line with the requirements of the evolving industry and wish them all the very best for the competition.”

The COTY competition was marred in controversy earlier this year when luxury marquee Porsche was again announced the COTY winner – the fourth time in six years.

The SAGMJ last year also faced allegations of racism against one of its members. This member has since resigned.

WesBank currently sponsors the Cars.co.za consumer awards. It is the third year that the bank sponsors the event, still rather new to the motoring calendar.

“For 60 years WesBank has been at the heart of South Africa’s automotive industry, and we feel privileged to be able to partner with Cars.co.za for this project,” said WesBank sales and marketing executive head Ghana Msibi in a recent media statement.

“We are in an era where the new vehicle market is evolving and consumers have varying requirements. These awards truly resonate with the consumer. Offering the public an opportunity to have a say in judging aligns with WesBank’s consumer-centric focus.”

SAGMJ COMMENTS
SAGMJ chairperson Rubin van Niekerk tells Engineering News Online that the guild made changes to its constitution in June this year, with some of those changes related to financial transactions and tender processes.

These changes mean that any sponsorship of more than R1-million must follow a tender process, with at least three companies invited to tender.

“Naturally we entered [COTY] negotiations prior to the formal process and our requirements were detailed in an invitation to tender document,” states Van Niekerk.

“Regular meetings between WesBank and ourselves took place . . . and they indicated that they were still interested in being the headline sponsor.

“After the annual general meeting all our processes became formalised, so WesBank also received a formal tender request on a Friday and some guidelines to submit a tender within a week on the following Friday.

“We had a meeting on the Monday to do another presentation and to discuss the tender process. At the end of the week, they sent a letter to say that they felt they had insufficient time, which surprised us, as they had months to decide the value of the sponsorship.”

Van Nierkerk says Auto Trader became COTY’s new sponsor in September.

As AutoTrader’s business model is digital and public focused, the SAGMJ introduced a public vote for the COTY semi-finalists, receiving a record 55 000 votes.

“The fascinating fact that emerged from this is that the public is more aspirational than the motoring journalists, who are remarkably pragmatic,” notes Van Niekerk.

“Contrary to popular misconception, we ended up with over 80% correlation on the [public] car voting versus the media [votes].

“We are grateful for WesBank’s sponsorship over the years. It gave us the opportunity to grow the trademarked South African COTY competition to international stature . . . their involvement and commitment to the motoring industry has been highly laudable.”

Van Nierkerk adds that the COTY jury has gradually evolved from hardcore petrol heads with less than 5% women and no lifestyle media representation, to one where the composition “reflects a well-balanced skill set and demographics”.

“Our core principles are excellence, ingenuity and raising the bar. Cars that win, need to be the best in their class, extremely well built, and offer superb value in terms of their class and resale value.”