Samuel Yong (centre), marketing director of Borneo Motors, accepts the ST Car of the Year 2017 award for the Lexus LC500.
For the seventh year running, Torque partnered with The Straits Times (ST) to select the best new cars of the year, using a robust voting system that sets the gold standard for automotive awards in the Singapore context.
The ST Car of the Year and the collaborative ST-Torque Awards are the country’s most authoritative editorial recognition of vehicular excellence.
The shortlisted contenders were rated against their typical rivals based on nine criteria: performance, handling, ride, build quality, ergonomics, styling, efficiency/economy, value for money and the X factor.
The awards ceremony, which took place last month at SPH Media Centre, was attended by over 50 invited guests from the motor trade.
There were 12 judges on the ST-Torque Awards 2017 panel, headed by Christopher Tan. He is senior transport correspondent of The Straits Times, consulting editor at Torque magazine and Singapore’s foremost motoring journalist for the past 30 years. Christopher’s co-driver in the judging panel was David Ting, editor of Torque and a 22-year motoring media veteran.
Christopher Tan said: “For what appeared at first to be an uncharacteristically dry year, 2017 actually gave us a number of mouth-watering cars. Cars like the Lexus LC500, Peugeot 3008 and Volvo XC60. The annual ST-Torque Awards pays tribute to them, as well as all the others which have emerged as segment leaders.”
David Ting said: “Thanks to continuous advancements in automotive design and vehicular technology, good cars are being introduced every year without fail. Some of them, however, go beyond ‘good’, by scoring great marks in the score sheets of the ST-Torque Awards and convincing the judges that they are the best cars of the year, in their respective categories.”
Samuel Yong, marketing director of Borneo Motors, accepted the Straits Times Car of the Year 2017 award for the Lexus LC500 and said: “Winning the ST Car of the Year is a great honour for the Lexus LC500. The win is definitely a strong endorsement of Lexus’ renowned craftsmanship and bold design.”
Commenting on the BMW 5 Series’ award for Best Executive Saloon, BMW Asia’s managing director, Paul de Courtois, said: “We are honoured that the esteemed panel of judges selected the new BMW 5 Series as the Best Executive Saloon for the ST-Torque Awards 2017. Even though we only launched the car in March 2017, the new 5 Series was still the most popular selling model for BMW in Singapore last year, and we’re confident 2018 will be no different.”
Jason Lim, general manager of Porsche Centre Singapore, had this to say about the Porsche Panamera winning the prize for Best Flagship Saloon: “We’re extremely honoured to receive the award for Best Flagship Saloon at ST-Torque Awards 2017. The Panamera was successfully launched in Singapore last year, and is the embodiment of Porsche’s continued drive to innovate through design and performance.”
Following Renault’s double win, Kevin Teng, managing director for Renault (Wearnes Automotive), said: “We are extremely excited that Renault has scored two award-winning models this year, the Grand Scenic and the Megane Sedan, as ST-Torque’s Best Seven-seater MPV and Best Family Saloon respectively. These awards are a testament of Renault’s continuous pursuit of excellence in automotive engineering and design. We are thankful for the recognition received.”
Rudi Venter, Audi Singapore’s general manager for marketing, remarked about the Q2’s award for Best Compact SUV: “The Q2’s win in this highly competitive segment confirms that it has captured the spirit of the times. More new Audi models in new segments are on the horizon, so we will continue to excite consumers and keep the reviewers at Torque very busy.”
