Women in the Driver Seat for World Award

Immediate release
April 29, 2013

Women In the Driver Seat For World Award

The shortlist for the 2013 Women’s World Car of the Year has been announced, with cars as diverse as the Ford Fiesta and Ferrari F12 among those to go through to the final round of voting.

The shortlist was compiled after the first round of secret ballot voting by 14 female motoring writers from nine countries worldwide, including Jacqui Madelin, from New Zealand.

WWCOTY CEO and award founder Sandy Myhre, also a New Zealander, says “'The judges' choices this year reflect the global market. It wasn't too long ago that cars we might see in Europe weren't available in New Zealand or in other countries. That's no longer the case.”

A New Zealand journalist and the first president of the NZ Motorsport Media Association, Sandy Myhre, formed the WWCOTY after she and several colleagues noticed that of the 45 judges on the panel for the 2007 World Car of the Year jury, not one was a woman.

They saw this as a serious oversight, given the calibre of some of the world’s motoring writers and the fact around half of all vehicle purchases are made by women, and so the award was born – the first year using judges from NZ, South Africa, the Netherlands, America and UK.

There are now more judges – and countries – represented.

Ms Myhre says women buy, own and drive cars – and she felt their voice should be heard, not via the stereotype of ‘women’s cars’ but by using as judges motoring journalists who write about cars and happen to be women.

“These awards have become a forum for discussion among women,” she says. “We are buyers of cars, drivers of cars, we fill them up with petrol, put child seats in them. Why not discuss these things among ourselves? That’s what women do.”

That also means that while considerations like performance, safety, road-holding and handling are naturally important, value and the purpose for which a car is designed are not forgotten – with ‘child-friendliness’ particularly a concern in family-focussed categories.

Ms Myrhe says that while last year’s winner, the Range Rover Evoque, stood out from the start, early voting is more open this year, and two new categories have been included – SUV, a bracket often used as a family car – and the judges’ choice of ‘dream car’. “It’s definitely a fun category, but we have included it to underline that women as well as men can dream of owning one of these cars.”

The worlds’ top motoring writers are currently crunching the numbers before the Auckland office of international auditor, Grant Thornton, collates the results with the winner announced in mid-May.

The car receiving the most points overall will win the supreme title as well as the category, with the trophy and certificates presented this year in London.

WOMEN'S WORLD CAR OF THE YEAR 2013
OFFICIAL SHORT LIST

FAMILY CAR: LUXURY CAR:
Volkswagen Golf Mercedes Benz SL550
Mazda 6 Lexus GS
Mercedez B-Class Cadillac ATS
Audi Allroad Range Rover
BMW Series BMW 6 Series

SPORTS CAR: ECONOMY CAR:

Porsche Boxster S Kia Forte
Audi RS5 Honda Civic
Ford Focus GT Hyundai i30
Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ Toyota Prius
Volkswagen Golf Gti Ford Fiesta Ecoboost

SUV: DREAM CAR:

Range Rover Maserati Quattroporte
Hyundai Santa Fe Jaguar F-type
Nissan Pathfinder Porsche Boxster
Mazda CX5 Porsche 911 Panamera
Honda CRV Aston Martin Vanquish
Ferrari F12
ENDS

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