Mazda2 wins World Car of the Year Award

Finalist in the design category too

by Thami Masemola
March 20, 2008 11:26 PM
Filed Under: General, Industry, Japanese, Mazda

The superb Mazda2, aka Demio in Japan, is now parked on the World Car of the Year throne for 2008. New king of the world Mazda2 won its crown over other top-three finalists Ford Mondeo and Mercedes-Benz C-Class. So dominant was the Mazda2 this time that it also came in for a podium finish when results were released for the top three design awards where it was in the company of the Audi R8 and Volvo C30. In total there were 39 initial contenders on the list.

World Car of the Year was won by the BMW 3 Series in 2006 and the Lexus LS 460 in 2007. The international competition is conducted by and voted on through secret ballot by 47 international jurors with extensive automotive journalism experience behind their names. They hail from various countries in AustraliAsia, North America, South America, Africa and Europe.

Mazda2, the little car that could and did, is the reigning Car of the Year in several countries including South Africa, Greece, Austria, Belgium and Denmark.

Source: Mazda

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Comments

nice job, but atypically i like the 5-door hatch better, looks smoother

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by ck314 | March 21, 2008 2:16 AM

ck314, I agree with you. Some small cars look better in 5-door. Tableman, fugly car? ah ok. You are one of those people who think only big cars can be beautiful.

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by gugas | March 21, 2008 5:51 PM

There must be more to this car than the looks. This is one fugly car!

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by tableman | March 21, 2008 2:45 AM

Mazda established new design language started from RX-8 followed by CX-7/9, Mazda2 and Mazda 6. It is, however not reputated in their home market Japan, as in Europe. The juries voted high scores fot this model might be mostly from Europe. Mazda's positive development may be caused by lesser control from Ford, I suppose.

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by hiromichi | March 21, 2008 2:57 AM

Their european designers made a good job, haha...

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by Penner | March 21, 2008 4:02 PM

its a nice car created by a group of best european and japanese designers.good job mazda.

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by DESIGNERr | March 21, 2008 10:00 PM

Hey gugas....I never mentioned size. There are a lot of good looking small cars, this just happens not to be one.

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by tableman | March 21, 2008 10:38 PM

Good work Mazda. I love their new designs. Look at the 2, 3 and 6's. All pretty cars. Well done once again.