New Subaru Impreza named Japan Car of the Year

Within days of its arrival in Australian showrooms next week, Subaru's new-generation Impreza has been named Japan's 2017 Car of the Year.

Attracting a total of 420 votes, the new Impreza defeated Toyota's fourth-generation Prius by 49 votes, with third going to Audi's latest A4, which was recently named Carsales Car of the Year.

The new A4 also claimed Japan's Import Car of the Year trophy after claiming 149 – just four ahead of the second-generation Volvo XC90.

The Impreza's win gives Subaru only its second ever JCOTY trophy and its first in 13 years.

“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," said Impreza chief engineer Kazuhiro Abe after accepting the award at the Tokyo International Exchange Center on Tokyo Bay.

"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. On behalf of all of my R&D team, I’d like to thank the jurors for their support of this car.”

The Nissan Serena claimed the Innovation Award for its Propilot driver-assist, hands-free sliding door technology and clever seat arrangement, while the Daihatsu Move Canbus won the Small Mobility award for its packaging.

Given high marks for its performance and handling, the BMW M2 triumphed in the Emotional Award, while the Honda NSX picked up the Car of the Year Japan steering committee’s Special Award for its revolutionary V6 twin-turbo hybrid powertrain.

Japan’s COTY organisation is made up of 59 jurors who each start with 25 votes and must give their most highly rated vehicle 10 votes. Their remaining 15 votes are then spread across their next best four cars. Each juror must vote for five cars out of the final top 10.