The sprite Toyota Corolla on the stable of Toyota Nigeria Limited (TNL), clinched the car of the year award at the prestigious Nigerian Auto Journalists Awards (NAJA) held in Lagos, recently. The award night, attended by major players in the nation’s automobile industry, was electrified as the winners in the different categories were announced. Some even guessed the winners from the nominees while others were too close to call.
Other keen contestants in the car of the year category were, Nissan Almera and Honda Accord. Three other sturdy automobiles in TNL’s fold also came tops at this year’s NAJA and these include Toyota Prado, SUV of The Year; Toyota Hilux, Pickup of the year; and Toyota Hiace, Mini Van of The Year awards. Remarkably, Elizade Motors, one of Toyota dealers also got the workshop of the year.
Another dealership that had an award haul in five categories was Coscharis Motors Limited, distributor of Ford, BMW, Jaguar/Land Rover and Rolls-Royce.
Ford Motors got the most improved car brand of the year; Range Rover Sports, luxury SUV of the year award; Coscharis Ford showroom in Lekki got the Multiple dealership showroom of the year; and joint winner in the corporate social responsibility category.
Group Managing Director of Coscharis Motors, Mr. Josiah Samuel received the Managing Director of the year award. Everybody agreed that Mercedes Benz had a good outing under Weststar Associates, the authorised general distributor of Mecedes Benz, Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge in Nigeria.
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class clinched the luxury car of the year award; the truck got the Truck-of-The Year award. Weststar Associates General Manager Mrs. Elizabeth Itegbe, who graced the award, received the Female Manager of The Year.
Stallion Group, the Nigerian auto giant also went home with some awards including the Most improved Auto Brand by Nissan, one of its brands, Single Brand showroom by Porsche Centre, and Multiple auto dealership of the year. Stallion represents more than eight strong auto brands in Nigeria including, Nissan, Porsche, Volkswagen, Honda, Hyundai, Asok Leyland Skoda and Audi.
The Group Managing Director Mr. Parvir Singh commended the initiatives of the Guild of Motoring Correspondents, organisers of the Nigeria Auto Journalists Awards. “Nissan particularly has done remarkably well since its inauguration 18 months ago with favourable growth indices and sales volumes,” he said.
Other winners at the NAJ Awards were; Innoson Motors and PAN Ltd that got the joint award for the automobile assembly plant of the year; and Globe Motors and Newsletters Ltd were honoured for their support to the development of Motoring journalism in Nigeria.
Tata got the Waste Disposal Truck Company of the year award; GAC and JAC, both Chinese brands received the New Entrant of the year. Chinese truck of the year award was won by Sinotruk, which is represented in Nigeria by Richbon Nigeria Limited.
The Budget car of the year award went to Kia Rio, which was recently assembled in Nigeria. Other nominees in this category were the Hyundai i10 Grand and Mitsubish Attrage. The base model of Kia Rio is priced from N2 million, though it is bigger than its contenders and has more features.
Courtesy: Thisday
