Thursday, April 01, 2021
By Manoj Kumawat
Sorry Other Cars - The Winner is Thar!!!
The Autocar Awards for the year 2021 are announced and denying all the predictions made by the key-players of the auto industry, Mahindra Thar SUV has succeeded in grabbing the Car of the Year 2021 award. The only car which stood as the tough contender of the Thar was the compact SUV Kia Sonet, but the final winner was the homegrown off-roader Thar. What makes the Thar the winner of the Award in its second generation are its off-roader driving abilities which makes it easier to drive on different terrains without any complexity. The launch of Thar has also produced a new segment of mid-sized SUV in the market.
It would be interesting to know that both the Mahindra Thar and Kia Sonet won the awards in the specific segments, where the former won the award of Mid-size SUV the latter was awarded as Compact SUV for the year 2021. The MG Gloster was named as the Premium SUV of the year, whereas the Mercedes-Benz GLE was honoured as the Luxurious SUV of the year because of its incredible features.
Moving ahead, the compact SUV the Tata Nexon EV which is also recognized as the trendsetter of the electric vehicles in the segment was awarded as the Green Car of the Year 2021. In the segment of sedans, the Honda City and Audi A8 L were awarded as the sedan and the luxury sedan in their respective segments.
Speaking about the stylish car for the year 2021, the award was given to the premium hatchback Altroz by the domestic carmaker Tata Motors. The same award in the compact SUV segment was handed over to Nissan Magnite.
The other cars which dominated their segments were the Hyundai i20 as the Premium Hatchback of the Year, Kia Carnival as the MPV, the Skoda Rapid 1.0 TSI was awarded as the Car Variant of the Year. Apart from these awards, Hyundai Motor India was declared as the Manufacturer of the Year for not only retaining its promise of launching high performing vehicles during the pandemic. Mr Shailesh Chandra, President – PVBU – Tata Motors was honoured as the Person of the Year for his remarkable role in taking the position of Tata Motors to new heights. The Lifetime Award was given to Dr Pawan Goenka, Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra for strengthening the recognition of the company in the global auto market.
