South Africa’s 2013 WesBank/South African Guild of Motoring Journalists Car of the Year is the 2012 Porsche Boxster.
Announced in Johannesburg on Wednesday night, the German sports car secured top honours from 30 jury members in what was a twelve-car race.
The twelve finalists, all 2012 models, were the BMW 3 Series 320i automatic; the Ford Ranger 3.2 XLT 4X4 double-cab diesel automatic; the Hyundai i30 1.8 Executive; the Kia Rio 1.4 TEC hatch manual; the 2012 Lexus GS 350 EX; the Mercedes-Benz B 180 CDI BlueEfficiency 7G-DCT; the Nissan Juke 1.6 DIG-T Tekna (in leather); the Opel Meriva 1.4T Cosmo; the Porsche Boxster; the Range Rover Evoque Si4 Dynamic five-door; the Toyota 86 High Spec manual; and the Toyota Yaris 1.5 HSD Xs.
The South African Guild of Motoring Journalists has run the South Africa Car of the Year competition since 1986, with WesBank – one of South Africa’s largest vehicle finance institutions – as its headline sponsor since inception. Hollard Insurance and Motul supply support sponsorship.
In recent years, the competition has delivered many interesting moments, such as in 2012 when Hyundai’s Elantra won the title and became the first Korean brand to win the title. In 2011, the competition caused an even bigger stir when, for the first time in history, the BMW 530d and Volkswagen Polo 1.6 TDI shared the crown.
BMW has won the Car of the Year title a record six times (1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2001 and 2011). Audi, Opel and Volkswagen have each won the Car of the Year title three times, with Honda, Renault and Toyota taking the crown twice. Alfa Romeo, Ford, Hyundai, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Volvo have won the title once each.
Here are the final results of the 2013 competition:
Porsche Boxster, 221 votes
Range Rover Evoque Si4 Dynamic 5-door, 181 votes
Toyota 86 High Spec 6MT, 177 votes
Kia Rio 1.4 TEC hatch manual, 144 votes
Lexus GS 350 EX, 143 votes
Hyundai i30 1.8 Executive, 106 votes
BMW 320i automatic, 104 votes
Nissan Juke 1.6 DIG-T Tekna (in leather), 79 votes
Opel Meriva 1.4T Cosmo, 67 votes
Ford Ranger 3.2 XLT 4X4 double-cab auto, 56 votes
Toyota Yaris 1.5 HSD Xs, 47 votes
Mercedes-Benz B180 CDI BlueEfficiency 7G-DCT, 35 votes