Subaru Impreza wins Japan Car of the Year Award

Subaru Impreza chief engineer Kazuhiro Abe celebrates the Impreza’s impressive victory

The Subaru Impreza was awarded the 2017 Car of the Year (COTY) Japan award with 420 votes, 49 more than the popular Japanese Toyota Prius hybrid model.

Trailing closely in third place was the Audi A4 which garnered 149 votes and bagged the Import Car of the Year trophy.

In fourth place, just 4 votes behind Audi, was another notable European car, the Volvo XC90.

The COTY Japan award was Subaru’s second, the first received 13 years ago.

Subaru Impreza chief engineer Kazuhiro Abe said, “When we started developing the Impreza over four years ago, never did I imagine I’d be standing here today with such a prestigious award. This must be what it feels like to win an Olympic gold. The Impreza’s new global platform has great meaning for the company moving forward, and will underpin nearly all of our cars over the next decade.”

Established in 1980, Japan’s COTY organization is an award-giving body made up of 59 jurors.

The award is given to newly released or redesigned vehicles released to the Japanese market from Nov. 1 of the previous year to Oct. 31 of the current year.

These jurors each start with 25 votes, but must give their most highly rated vehicle 10 votes.

Their remaining 15 votes are then given and spread across other models that they believe to be their next best four cars. Each juror must vote for 5 cars out of the final Top 10.

This year, after 20 jurors’ votes had been read out, the difference between the Impreza and Prius was only 9 votes, 138 to 129 votes, respectively.

A close finish was expected. However, when the 40th juror’s votes were revealed, the Impreza’s lead jumped to 27 votes.

In the end, the Subaru breezed through to pick up an easy victory, with 420 votes to the Prius’ 371.

Subaru is being distributed in the country by Motor Image Pilipinas in company-owned dealerships in Greenhills, BGC and Manila Bay. It has authorized dealers in Luzon (Alabang, Pampanga, Sta. Rosa), Visayas (Cebu and Iloilo) and Mindanao (Cagayan De Oro and Davao).