As part of an overarching strategy to position itself as the most trusted source of automotive consumer-focused content and on-line tools and guides, Cars.co.za will be rolling out a number of new brand extensions during the course of the next few months. The first to arrive is the inaugural Cars.co.za Consumer Awards programme which we are thrilled to launch today.

You can follow the Awards programme here: www.carsawards.co.za and look out for #CarsAwards on Twitter.

Designed to recognise the best cars available in the South African market using a unique, multi-faceted judging process, there is, however, much more to this awards programme than handing out trophies to the manufacturers and importers. The goal is to identify the best buys within their respective categories, and thereby assisting the consumer in making informed choices. Whether you end up buying one of the winners, or one of the semi-finalists, rest assured you are buying a very good car.

Cars.co.za Consumer Awards – How Does It Work?

The Best in Nine Categories

The Cars.co.za road-test team, consisting of David Taylor, Ashley Oldfield, Hannes Oosthuizen and Ciro de Siena, has divided the South African car market into nine segments, ranging from the Budget Car category with a ceiling of R150000, to the First Class category, where there is no price limit, and everything in between. Our panel of testers then researched and debated each of the cars on sale in South Africa and determined their eligibility and all-round ability against the predetermined “pillars of success” in each of the nine categories. Five cars are selected through rigorous debate and analysis in each category during the first (semi-finalist) stage.

“We believe having a debate and consensus mechanism for the first phase of the Awards Programme is crucial,” says Hannes Oosthuizen, Cars.co.za Consumer Experience Manager. “We want to ensure that each of the five cars that make it to semi-finalist stage is good enough to deserve the ultimate reward, and the only way to do that is to put all the facts and opinions on the table, pool our knowledge and experiences, and to have an open debate as a team.”

Further boosting this Awards programme’s relevance to the consumer is the fact that all cars for sale on the South African market are considered, not only those launched in the past 12 months. It is also important to note that the awards will be for specific model derivatives, not model ranges. “There is simply too much variation within most model ranges,” says Oosthuizen, “and besides, the consumer buys a specific derivative, not an entire range.”

Weighted by Segment Importance

The next (finalist) phase requires further and even deeper analysis of the five contenders in their respective nine categories. Comprehensive voting sheets have been developed that require the Cars.co.za test team to score the semi-finalists in overarching categories such as Interior Comfort, Performance, Efficiency, Packaging etc., further sub-divided into the minutest detail and features. Depending on the segment of the market being judged, the weightings of these categories change to reflect consumer requirements. For example, in the Family Car category extra weighting would be placed on luggage space and long-distance comfort, whereas these would score comparatively little in the Fun Car category.

When the scores have been tallied, the top three finalists in each of the nine categories will be announced.

Real Consumer Input

Once the finalists (top three) in each of the categories have been determined, the Cars.co.za Consumer Awards programme adds two further layers of credibility. Firstly, running concurrently with the awards programme is Cars.co.za’s new Owner Satisfaction Survey, developed in association with leading automotive data specialists, Lightstone Consumer. In this survey South African car owners will rate their own vehicles for reliability, after-sales service, cost of ownership and general satisfaction. This survey will go live early in August 2015.

At the final voting stage in late September 2015, initial survey results will be made available to the judging panel for consideration. In this manner the consumer will have a very real impact on the results of the Awards, but in a meaningful way. “Ultimately, nobody knows better than the actual owners what it’s like to live with any of the car brands for sale in South Africa. By creating this survey with Lightstone, we’re not only able to plug real, credible feedback into the Awards programme, but we also gain fascinating insights into the trends and ownership experiences unique to the South African car market. As we position ourselves very strongly in the consumer space, we simply have to remain in dialogue with the consumer, and the survey is our means of communication,” says Oosthuizen.

Respected External Jury

At the final voting stage, all the relevant information (including the survey results) are presented to the judging panel which will be made up not only out of Cars.co.za’s test team members, but also three guest judges selected for their analytical ability and the respect they demand in the South African media landscape. We are thrilled to join forces with Wendy Knowler (The Times Consumer Journalist), Branko Brkic (Editor and Founder, Daily Maverick) and Songezo Zibi (Editor Business Day). In selecting the external jury emphasis was also placed on selecting candidates that are not necessarily active in the automotive space. This was done to ensure that alternative viewpoints to our “petrolheaded” test team’s opinions are also incorporated.

Following the combined jury’s final vote, the winners will be announced in October 2015.