2017-2018 Japan Car of the Year (JCOTY), a once-a-year event where 60 selected committee, mostly journalists chose the most impressive car of the year by vote. The final selection of this year’s prize was held on 11th December 2017, and the result was announced on the same day.
- 1st XC60 (Volvo, Sweden)
- 2nd 5 Series (BMW, Germany)
- 3rd Camry (Toyota, Japan)
- 4th Swift (Suzuki, Japan)
- 5th N BOX (Honda, Japan)
- 6th Lexus LC (Toyota, Japan)
- 7th Julia (Alfa Romeo, Italy)
- 8th CX-5 (Mazda, Japan)
- 9th C3 (Citroen, France)
- 10th Tiguan (Volkswagen, Germany)
It is the Second Time that an Imported Car Received the Grand Prize
Volvo XC60
Volvo XC60 Interior
Volvo XC60, which received the highest award, is a SUV with total length of 4.7m and passenger capacity of 5 people. It is not because it’s a popular car but it is a model that goes into luxury car category called premium segment. The Japanese car of the year is often chosen from the popular car class, and the first prize of luxury car grand prize was 2006 “Lexus LS” (Toyota, Japan) which is its first time since 11 years ago. It is the second time since the award began in 1980 that an Imported car which received the Grand Prize. The first one was “Golf” (Volkswagen, Germany) 4 years ago.
XC60 was evaluated based on the good balance as a luxury car. It was evaluated on the excellent appearance and interior, exceptional driving performance, high safety feature including automatic driving function, plug-in hybrid that can run on gasoline, diesel engine and as electric vehicle up to 40km and have a wide range of power source etc.
“Camry”, the one that took a lot of full marks
Camry front
Camry Back
Japan Car of The Year voting system is unique. Selected committee members were given 25 points. Out of that 25 points, 10 points should be given to one car, and the remaining 15 points were allocated to any other four cars.
Actually, in this selection, the 3rd place Toyota “Camry” got the most 10-point, with 14 out of 60 panelists. In contrast, XC60 only received 10 points from 8 people. If it was a 10 point acquisition competition, Camry would have won the grand prize. However, Camry was given 0 point from 16 selected committee members. To the contrary, there were only 6 panelists who gave 0 point to XC60. The score other than full mark has divided the outcome of these 2 models.
Prius PHV
Apart from the grand prize, Prius PHV (Toyota, Japan) was chosen for “Innovation Award” in Innovative Technology. Lexus LC was chosen in “Emotional Division” for exotic cars. N BOX was chosen in “Small Mobility Division” for mini vehicles.
Is there any dream car in the list?
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