Chevrolet Cruze was voted "AUTOBEST 2010". With a total of 844 points, the winner overtook Hyundai i20 with only 83 points, making this one of the closest victories in the history of Autobest. Skoda Yeti came third, with a total of 725 points, very close to VW Polo, the fourth place.

    A fair assessment between winners cannot be done just by comparing the points. Five years ago, only 12 members were in the AUTOBEST Jury. For this edition, there are 15 motoring journalists. Some years ago we introduced a new index for a fair comparison: average percentage of points granted by the Jury members for a car out of the total number of points. In 2006, the winning KIA Rio managed to take an average of 24,5% out of the total available number of points. A year after the biggest index was reached, Opel Corsa won with 25% points out of the maximum points. A year after, Fiat Linea won with 23,5% and last year Renault Symbol collected an index of 24,4% of the available points. Chevy Cruze was very close with Symbol collecting 23,4 % of the available points, the smallest in the last 5 years.

    "As the rankings show, was not easy victory for Cruze. The new Chevy model proved to be an overall winner with an excellent value for money, a good car, specially designed for the needs of regular customers in the Autobest region. Even more, the car will be produced in Russia. The new Hyundai i20 was a fantastic contender close to the winner. The Cruze is now representing the best buy car in the Autobest region", Mr. Ilja Seliktar, AUTOBEST President, stated.

    Hyundai Motor Europe was voted "COMPANYBEST 2009" for the very good results in this year. "Hyundai is one of the very few brands with a positive evolution in a crisis period of time. HME also paid attention to our region establishing factories and hiring a lot of east-central Europeans. For these decisions, AUTOBEST Jury decided to award HME with one of the most important prizes we grant." Ilja Seliktar declared.

    Autobest Jury voted Mitsubishi Motor Corporation as "ECOBEST 2009". i-MIEV is the first production Electric Vehicle on sale in Japan and soon to be sold in Europe. ECOBEST award founded by AUTOBEST Jury 10 years ago was one the very first worldwide to prize the efforts in the green field. "For us is a great pride to award i-MIEV. There are many statements in this exciting sector coming from almost any manufacturer. But- so far- Mitsubishi is the only one with a real EV for any customer." Seliktar declared.

    AUTOBEST among emerging markets organization appointed a new member to represent Croatia. Neven Novak is a well known motoring writer in his country. He is the Deputy Editor in Chief of auto motor & sport magazine. Vladimir Dedic, a veteran writer from Serbia, senior commentator from the biggest Serbian daily „Politika" is joining the Jury.

    In electing the AUTOBEST car winner, the Jury made its decision taking into consideration 13 criteria, each of them counting a specific number of points that reflect a different importance in the final vote of each car. The price, with 60 points out of a total of 240 available to be distributed among the finalists, is the most important. Other sensitive issues for the region, like distribution network, service and spare parts availability, consumption, versatility and boot capacity, count for 20 points each. All of these specific criteria for the customers in emerging countries totalize more than a half of the total number of points. Other issues, common for all European countries, like new technologies, handling, dynamics, environmental friendly, are less important. The design, evaluated with 30 points maximum, becomes more and more important for the clients in emerging countries.

    The 9-th edition of AUTOBEST AWARDS FESTIVITY will take place at the beginning of February 2010 in Russia. Following the tradition, AUTOBEST International Jury grants the awards in different country every year. Last year, the awards festivity was held in Istanbul, Turkey. Besides the AUTOBEST winners, in Russia are also invited important people and decision-makers from the automotive industry in Russia and Europe as well, politicians, stars, sports people and well-known personalities.

    AUTOBEST Jury thanks the readers from the region for encouraging the project and the PR responsible in the automotive industry for providing all the support in organizing meetings and drive tests of the new products.

    AUTOBEST organization is the only international independent jury focusing on best-buy choice for mainstream customers. This year, AUTOBEST members of the Jury are coming from 15 countries in the region, and represent a virtual market with more than 300 million people. Each member of the Jury is an outstanding motoring journalist, a respected voice in his country. AUTOBEST is the second largest independent motoring Jury in Europe.

    For more information, please visit www.autobest.org or contact Allma Somkereki, e-mail : pr@autobest.org

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