The Porsche Macan sports-utility vehicle has secured top honours in the 2015 WesBank/South African Guild of Motoring Journalists (SAGMJ) Car of the Year (COTY) competition.
The victory is the third time in a row for the German sports car brand, having scooped the 2013 and 2014 titles with the Boxster and the Cayman S respectively.
Porsche is the only manufacturer, since the inception of the competition in 1986, to score three consecutive wins.
Also, 2015 is only the third year in which Porsche has been nominated as a WesBank/SAGMJ COTY finalist.
“I am delighted to accept this award on behalf of the dedicated team at Porsche South Africa, our enthusiastic Porsche customers and Porsche engineers, whose commitment and professionalism created the remarkable Macan,” said Porsche South Africa CE Toby Venter as he accepted the award from WesBank CEO Chris de Kock and SAGMJ chairperson Roger McCleery in Johannesburg.
“This accolade for the Porsche Macan and everybody involved in its development will be celebrated by the global Porsche family.”
The 2015 COTY competition had 15 finalists, judged by a SAGMJ jury of 28 journalists.
The finalists were the Audi A3 Sedan 1.4T FSI SE S Tronic; BMW M4 Coupe AT; Citroen C4 Picasso e-HDi 115 Intensive; Honda Accord 3.5 V6 Exclusive; Lexus ES 250 EX; Mercedes-Benz C200 AT; Nissan Qashqai 1.6 dCi Acenta AT; Porsche Macan S Diesel; Renault Duster 1.5 dCi Dynamique AWD; Subaru WRX Premium; and the Toyota Corolla 1.4 D-4D Prestige.
The Mercedes-Benz C200 came second.