What makes a "best new" winner?

Answer: data driven by Canadian expertise.
That's what makes a winner for Canadian consumers.

AJAC's 2017 Canadian Car of the Year Awards

CLARINGTON, ON, Oct. 28, 2016 /CNW/ - Over 60 Canadian automotive journalist experts have just completed their back-to-back test-drives of 100 vehicles for the purpose of voting on the "Best New" cars and SUVs for 2017.  The event is organized by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) and is known within the industry as "TestFest."  The Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario was the host of the event.

The journalists' votes result in eight winners in "Best New" vehicle categories (e.g. Best New Small Car, or Best New Utility Vehicle), which will be announced in November in Toronto, Ontario. These category winners then go on to compete for the honour of becoming the 2017 Canadian Car of the Year, Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year, Canadian Green Car of the Year, or the Canadian Green Utility Vehicle of the year winners.

But what, exactly, makes a vehicle a winner? Officials with the AJAC Canadian Car of the Year (CCOTY) program encourage the public to ask that exact question when considering the results of their awards program, or any other.

Where some automotive awards programs simply declare a winner based on the preferences of a few individuals, the CCOTY program capitalizes on the experience of some 60 respected member journalists, who drive all entries back-to-back on a series of drive routes including public roads, a performance course, a handling course, and an off-road course—precisely mimicking a range of conditions that a consumer would likely experience in daily life.

Dozens of factors relating to each vehicle are scored, with everything from noise levels and cargo space to fuel economy and acceleration figures are considered, weighted, and applied to that vehicle's points' score. Vehicles are categorized based on size and type, and all entries in a given category are driven back to back, on the same day, in the same conditions.

"The benefits are twofold," says CCOTY Co-Chair Justin Pritchard. "First, back-to-back testing brings out even subtle differences between competitors, which are reflected in the scoring results. And second, all of our results are quantified. When a vehicle wins or loses in the program, the public can see precisely why, since all of our testing and voting data is published online at www.ajac.ca. This isn't a popularity contest. When we declare a winner, we've got hundreds of thousands of data points, collected during thousands of man-hours of controlled test-drives, to back it up."

Both subjective and objective scores are combined and weighted for importance in determining which vehicle in each category has the greatest overall scores in relation to the vehicles it competes against. This data driven, unbiased program ensures an accurate representation of a winner.

PRESS ROOM FOR MEDIA: You didn't have to be at TestFest in order to produce media coverage of the event. AJAC has set-up a virtual press room on-line where you may peruse and download the following:

VIDEO:   b-roll of the 4 day event as well as short 90 second videos that are ideal for YouTube

AERIAL VIEW:    drone footage of the event from the sky.

QUOTES & TESTIMONIALS: comments from our journalists on the cars, trucks, and SUVs they have driven this week.

FACT SHEET: including recent press releases.

Link is: http://ajac.ca/web/ccoty/pressroom.asp

The Canadian Car of the Year is a vehicle that truly stands out, in its market segment, in the industry, and in the collective evaluation of Canada's most trusted automotive experts.

SOURCE Automobile Journalists Association of Canada

For further information: about the AJAC CCOTY Awards, please visit the AJAC web site: ajac.ca Or contact: Justin Pritchard Co-Chair ([email protected]), Gary Grant Co-Chair ([email protected]), Brian Early Director ([email protected]), Haney Louka Director ([email protected]), David Taylor Director ([email protected]) or Charles Jolicoeur Director ([email protected]).