When a select panel of motoring media professionals and practitioners gets tasked to vote on what they individually believe are the auto industry’s best, at times they collectively prove that they can be especially meticulous and fastidious about their selections. Such was apparently the case when they congregated last Saturday, October 11, 2014 at a private function room of the Valle Verde Country Club for special annual poll for the “2014-2015 Auto Focus Media’s Choice Awards.” After the subsequent count on which concurrent car models are best in design, engine performance, safety features and value-for-money in their respective standard and luxury classifications, clear winners emerged in only 21 of the 84 AFMCA awards on tap.
“The AFMCA standards and criteria are quite stringent in the first place.” as explained by Gerry Aquino, the Awards Committee Chairman of both the AFMCA and its associated merit program, the “2014-2015 Auto Focus People’s Choice Awards” (AFPCA). Both the AFPCA and AFMCA are organized annually by Sunshine Television (STV).Added Aquino: “The People’s Choice Awards is about the general popularity of and preferences for specific car brands and models in the market. An AFPCA win is determined by top scores based on a combination of unit sales and people’s votes. With the AFMCA however, a top vote doesn’t necessarily equate to a win. To earn a Media’s Choice award, a particular model must receive at least 51% or more the total votes cast in that model’s specific performance category. It can be no less than a majority win. Primarily, this strict rule accounts for the fact that in 63 performance categories, no winners could be declared.”
The distinct purpose of AFMCA is to further recognize the automobile industry’s continuing efforts to provide car owners and motorists with the best on-board features, styling, performance and overall value. As one motoring media pundit put it: “It would be ideal if you had all the desirable features and performance in one model, but that’s hardly the case. However, if a prospect is looking at individual characteristics like engine performance or safety features, then our opinions as to which models have the best of these could help car buyers weigh and balance the pros and cons more knowingly before making a final decision to buy a particular model over similar ones.”
The AFMCA candidates pool consisted of the same 140+ makes and models in the Official Entry List of the 2014-2015 Auto Focus People’s Choice Awards, sub-divided into the same 21 model classifications Applied against 4 designated award categories (Design, Engine Performance, Safety Features, and Value-for-Money), a total of 84 AFMCA awards were on offer.
The results of the media poll were recently announced along with the winners of the “2014-2015 Auto Focus People’s Choice Awards” (AFPCA) at ceremonies held at The Venue, Prism Plaza, SM Mall of Asia, on Thursday, November 6, 2014.
In the Standard Model Category, there were 10 awardees out of 44 available awards with 3 models coming away with multiple awards:
MAZDA 3: Best Design and Best Engine Performance (compact)
FORD EXPLORER: Best Safety Features and Best Value-for-Money (Large SUV)
FORD RANGER: Best Design and Best Safety Features (Pickup)
MAZDA 6: Best Value-for-Money (Midsize Sedan)
FORD MUSTANG: Best Engine Performance (Sports Car)
VOLKSWAGEN TOURAN: Best Safety Features (Multi-purpose Vehicle/MPV)
HYUNDAI GRAND STAREX: Best Design (Van)
In the Luxury Model Category, there were 11 awardees out of 40 available awards with a BMW model almost sweeping all 4 awards in its classification:
BMW X1: Best Design, Best Engine Performance and Best Value-for-Money (Luxury Open)
BMW X5: Best Design and Best Engine Performance (Luxury Midsize SUV)
HONDA ODYSSEY: Best Engine Performance and Best Safety Features (Luxury Van)
VOLVO V40: Best Safety Features (Luxury Subcompact)
VOLVO XC60: Best Safety Features (Luxury Compact SUV)
LEXUS LS460 L: Best Value-for-Money (Luxury Large Sedan)
As pointed out by STV Chairman/CEO Mr. Ray Butch Gamboa: “AFMCA honors emanate from the calculated, learned choices made by motoring media colleagues based on actual test drives, close-up experience and a more intimate knowledge of the finer points of an automobile. If I may add, this, as well as the majority criteria, gives real and added value to landing a Media’s Choice award. It means each awardee does or has something better than its counterpart models as seems to be the case with the 21 clear-cut AFMCA winners. However, in many of the 63 performance categories where no winner could be proclaimed, parity was the prevalent reason and therefore all models in these classifications deserve a look from car buyers.”
