Extreme winners

India's cheapest production car is the Indian Car Of The Year 2010, while India's most expensive production bike is the Indian Bike Of The Year 2010!

In its fifth year since inception, the leading automotive magazines in India, in association with JK Tyre, presented the latest iteration of most credible and significant awards of the country - Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) and Indian Motorcycle of the Year (IMOTY). The awards have been instituted to bring the auto industry in India at par internationally in recognising their efforts.

The awards are an unbiased and exhaustive evaluation of all the new cars and motorcycles launched in the calendar year of 2009 in India. A 11-member specialist jury consisting of senior automobile journalists from Auto Bild India, Auto India, Business Standard Motoring, Car India, Overdrive and Top Gear got together to vote for the most impressive car and motorcycle on parameters very similar to acclaimed international awards for automotive excellence.

 

Although there were many contenders, the Tata Nano emerged as the Indian Car of the Year 2010 and Kawasaki Ninja 250R pummelled the competition to win the coveted title of Indian Motorcycle of the Year 2010.

To qualify for the awards, only all-new cars and motorcycles that went on sale in showrooms across the country before December 1, 2009 were considered. Existing cars and motorcycles that have had mere cosmetic facelifts or small mechanical tweaks did not qualify for consideration.

The jury members judged the cars and motorcycles on various parameters such as price, fuel efficiency, design, comfort, safety, manoeuvrability, performance, functionality, environmental responsibility and driver/rider satisfaction among others. In addition, technical innovation and value for money were particularly important factors while deciding on the winner.

The selection of the winner is carried out by a simple voting system with each jury member having 25 points to allot to at least four cars/bikes. They can give a maximum of 10 points to any one of them. The diminutive Nano simply stomped all over the competition, while the Ninja was too strong for any other machine.

Previous winners of the Indian Car of the Year include the Honda City (2009), Hyundai i10 (2008), Honda Civic (2007) and Maruti Suzuki Swift (2006). And previous Indian Bikes of the Year have been the Yamaha YZF-R15 (2009) and Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi (2007).