Ford Ranger awarded as the 'Pick-up of the Year' in Malaysia and Thailand

Kuala Lumpur: The all new Pickup Truck Ford Ranger from the American house of innovation has come out shining with the highest scores at the inaugural session of 2015 ASEAN Car of the Year (ACOTY) awards which were recently hosted in the capital city of Malaysia.

ACOTY is first of its kind non-profit event in the ASEAN region, which was organized for the first time in joint efforts of celebrated motorists hailing from Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. The awards were judged by the leading motoring journalists and experts from the automotive industry, insurance experts and third-party warranty service providers across the ASEAN countries of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Ford Ranger was awarded as the most loved pick-up truck in the ASEAN countries of Malaysia and Thailand.

“The new Ranger offers more power than any other pickup in Malaysia. It’s also the only pickup to feature a range of new safe and smart technologies, and raises the level of refinement in the segment,” said David Westerman, MD, Ford Motor Company, Malaysia and Asia Pacific Emerging Markets.

This was the third consecutive award for the American pick-up truck Ford Ranger which has also won the ‘Pick-up Truck of the Year’ by the New Straits Times-Maybank Car of the Year (COTY) 2015. The truck has also received a maximum of five-star safety rating by the ASEAN New Car Assessment Program (ASEAN NCAP) which is marked the highest score ever obtained by a pickup truck in Malaysia.

The eligibility criteria for the awards held on a national level was decided by the esteem judging panel that nominated those vehicles which were available for sale in the respective countries. After this, the committee eliminated out three most nominated vehicles in each category out of every country among the twenty-two categories. The performance was further evaluated by 9 motoring journalists from Malaysia, 6 from Thailand, and another 7 from Indonesia who evaluated the vehicle's product appeal. Opal Automart, which is an aftermarket warranty service provider also evaluated the brand's reliability on the grounds of its huge database of servicing and customer experience data. Besides that, expert insurer Liberty Insurance was also involved that scored the vehicles on the bases of their depreciation values. ACOTY also conducted public voting on the basis of user experiences, sales satisfaction and after sales experiences to come out with the ultimate winner in the respective segment.