Mazda MX-5 named Japan's COTY

Mazda has claimed its second successive Japanese car of the year award with the new MX-5 being named the 2015 Car of the Year Japan winner after a close battle with Honda's S600 mini-roadster.

At an award ceremony at the Tokyo International Exchange Center in Tokyo Bay, the MX-5 tallied 442 votes, pipping the S660 by 41 votes.

The BMW 2 Series, which finished in third place, totalled 177 votes to pick up the Import Car of the Year gong.

The win gives Mazda back-to-back Japan car of the year trophies after it captured the major prize last year for the Mazda2.

The Suzuki Alto picked up the Small Mobility award, while the Tesla Model S — entering the award process for the first time in Japan — won the Innovation award.

A split in the voting between several sporty models including the MX-5, S660 and Model S saw no model gain the necessary 200 votes to win the Emotional award, so that trophy was not awarded this year.

The Car of the Year Japan steering committee’s Special Award was presented to two companies this year. The first award went to Japan’s largest car importer Yanase, an acknowledgement of its 100th year in promoting import car culture nationwide.

The second trophy was presented to the Toyota Mirai — which did not meet the criteria to enter the main award — for its technological achievement in advancing the spread of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.

Accepting the award, Mazda’s vice-president in charge of product planning and head of the company’s SKYACTIV technology R&D, Kiyoshi Fujiwara, said: “We went through some tough times during the financial crisis and 2011 earthquake, but we stuck to our founding principles and created a winning formula.

"We think the jurors’ response to our MX-5 shows that sports cars are making a strong comeback in Japan. This award means a lot to our development team.”

An examination of the results shows just how close the voting progressed until the winner was finally announced. The MX-5 polled the maximum 10 votes from 25 of the 60 jurors, while the S660 picked up 10 votes from 22 jurors.

Each juror is allocated 25 votes, but must give 10 votes to their first choice and spread their remaining 15 votes among their next best four cars.

The 60 jurors comprised top automotive journalists from 30 of Japan’s most influential car publications, websites and TV shows, including at least 10 well-known racing drivers who also work as journalists.