Hyundai in Shock as Toyota Camry Wins 2013 "Korea Car of the Year" Award

Until recently, South Korea had a taxing policy that made importing cars nigh impossible. It was a means to protect its homegrown automakers, of course, i.e. Hyundai and Kia, from foreign competition. Now, though, it has opened its doors to foreigners, which is fair, as the Koreans face no such restrictions in regions such as North America, Europe or Asia.

Toyota, for one, only entered the South Korean market in 2010. In 2011, it managed to shift 5,020 vehicles. Last year, it more than doubled that number, to 10,795 and, despite the strong competition from German rivals, increased its market share from 4.78 to 8.25 percent.

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European Car of the Year Short List with the 8 Finalists Revealed, Think You Can Pick the Winner?

After announcing the 34 nominees (38 if you include re-badged models like the Seat Toledo and Subaru BRZ) in late September, the organizing committee of the European edition of the Car of the Year award has now released the short list with the 8 finalists.

Normally, the short list includes 7 models, but due to the fact that two cars tied in the same position during the voting process, the committee increased the number of finalists to eight, just as it did in the 2007 edition of the award.

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Mazda CX-5 Beats Toyota GT86/Subaru BRZ, Wins Japan Car of the Year Award

With less than a month remaining until the end of the year, all kinds of “Car of the Year” awards will inadvertently start to pop up. Some, of course, are much more important than others are; and the Japan COTY title belongs to the former category. In 2011, the winner was the Nissan Leaf, which had also been awarded the World and European COTY titles.

This year, Mazda won the crown with its CX-5 compact crossover getting 363 votes, 45 more than the second-placed Toyota GT86/Subaru BRZ “twins”. BMW’s 3-Series was third, while it’s interesting to note that the top 10 was evenly split between Japanese and European models.

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The 34 Nominees for the 2013 European Car of the Year Award – Which One do You Think will Win?

The process of electing the 2013 Car of the Year (COTY) for Europe has officially commenced with the release of the provisional list of candidates.

In order to be eligible, a car must have been released during the past 12 months; is available in at least five European countries; has a projected annual sales figure of no less than 5,000 units and is a new model and not just a new edition.

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