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NEWS
Australia's Best Cars announced for 2012
Ford's Falcon G6 EcoBoost scores a double in motoring associations' annual vehicle awardsJudges have hailed the Ford Falcon G6 EcoBoost as their choice from among all the new cars pitted against each other in the latest round of Australia's Best Cars.
Not only did the Falcon win in its category, Best Large Car Under $60,000, it was also the outright winner in the 'Judge's Choice' section, following the lead of last year's winner, also a Falcon, the LPG-fuelled Falcon EcoLPI.
“Falcon’s second win underscores the work Ford is doing to try to arrest the slide of large car sales by providing viable alternatives to the big six,” said Chief Judge, Mark Borlace. “It is arguably the best mainstream Falcon yet.”
Another Australian-built car to win in its section was the Toyota Camry Hybrid H, which topped the category for Best Medium Car Under $50,000.
“Both Falcon and Camry provide big fuel economy wins for motorists,” Mr Borlace said.
“The Camry returns 5.2 litres/100km in official figures and the EcoBoost Falcon delivers 8.1 litres/100km.”
Over 300 cars were assessed this year and a winner was named for each of the 15 categories. This is not the first time some cars have appeared on the podium. Land Rover's Discovery has won the award for All Terrain 4WD eight times now. Hyundai iMax, which was only launched in Australia in 2008, has topped the category for Best People Mover every year since. BMW's fifth title in the category for Best Sports Car Under $80,000 has been secured this year by the M135i. And the Volkswagen Polo 66TDI has notched up a hat trick – three consecutive years as the Best Light Car Over $20,000.
Of the eight car companies presented with awards this year, five took away more than one each. BMW and Hyundai each grabbed three awards, with Ford, Kia and Volkswagen each named in two categories. Models new to the market snapped up seven of the 15 awards – and some of the remaining eight were more affordable than for the previous year.
“You can see how competitive the Australian new car market is from the broad variety of manufacturers winning these awards – and a lot of them did not win by much,” said Australian Automobile Association executive director, Andrew McKellar.
“I don’t know of a time in the history of the automotive industry when Australians had such a choice of quality products representing such value for money. Competition like this is excellent for the consumer, because it means that those manufacturers have to keep pushing to deliver the best technology at the best price in order to win sales.”
Winners by category:
Best Light Car Under $20,000 – Kia Rio Si
Best Light Car Over $20,000 – Volkswagen Polo 66TDI Comfortline
Best Small Car Under $35,000 – Hyundai I30 Active
Best Small Car Over $35,000 – Ford Focus Titanium
Best Medium Car Under $50,000 – Toyota Camry Hybrid
Best Medium Car Over $50,000 – BMW 320i Turbo
Best Large Car Under $60,000 – Ford Falcon G6 EcoBoost
Best Large Car Over $60,000 – Lexus GS 350 F Sport
Best Sports Car Under $80,000 – BMW 135i
Best Sports Car Over $80,000 – BMW M3 Coupe
Best All Terrain 4WD – Land Rover Discovery 4 SDV6 SE
Best SUV Under $40,000 – Kia Sportage SLi AWD
Best SUV Over $40,000 – Hyundai Santa Fe R Series Elite
Best Luxury SUV Over $60,000 – volkswagen touareg V6 TDI
Best People Mover – Hyundai iMax
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