By Khulekani Dumisa

The Peugeot 2008 SUV has been named 2021 South African Car of the Year (COTY) beating out 23 finalists in the prestigious competition. The COTY trophy has been awarded since 1986.

Plethora of accolades

The stylish French SUV was also honoured with the 2021 Jurors Excellence Award and beat out five strong competitors in the hotly contested Compact Family category, one of the most contested groups in this year’s competition. There were six nominees in the category, including Hyundai’s Creta crossover, Toyota’s Corolla Sedan, the Volkswagen T-Roc, Kia Seltos, and the Mazda CX-30.

“We’re naturally delighted by the recognition by the South African Guild of Mobility Journalists (SAGMJ) of our exciting Peugeot 2008 SUV,” said Leslie Ramsoomar, Managing Director of Stellantis South Africa reacting to the news of the win. “We believe the car certainly deserves it. It’s been a major success for customers and we’re proud of the results it’s achieving thanks to major efforts from our Stellantis and dealer teams.”

Online scoring system

Due to Covid-19 challenges, and for the first time in the competition’s history, the SAGMJ did not host its scheduled two-day juror evaluation event but instead used an online scoring system.  Expert COTY jurors had access to this scoring system and were encouraged to score vehicles as they experienced them on launches or as test-drive vehicles and to input scores and notes via the SAGMJ scoring system. The use of this ongoing scoring system had been introduced to COTY jurors and trainee jurors as part of the COTY process before 2021.

Toyota most awarded

Toyota won three categories – Budget classification (Starlet), Adventure SUV (Land Cruiser Prado) and Double Cab of the year (Hilux). The latter also claimed second place overall, beating 21 other finalists across the nine categories.   

 2021 South African Car of the Year category winners

There were 23 finalists in the running for this year’s awards across nine categories, which are:

• Budget Category: Toyota Starlet
• Compact Category: Hyundai Venue
• Compact Family Category: Peugeot 2008 SUV
• Family Category: Audi A4
• Premium Category: BMW 4 Series
• Adventure Category: Toyota Land Cruiser Prado
• Double Cab Category: Toyota Hilux Double Cab
• Performance Category: Porsche 911 Turbo S
• New Energy Category: Porsche Taycan
• Motor Enthusiast’s Choice: Mercedes-Benz E-Class
• Jurors Excellence Award: Peugeot 2008 SUV