Toyota RAV4 wins 2019 Japan Car of the Year

KUALA LUMPUR: Toyota RAV4 has been awarded the title of Japan Car of the Year 2019-2020. The award came back to Toyota after a considerable gap of 10 years since the Prius bagged this award back in 2009-2010.

The RAV4 conquered the first position by securing a total of 436 points, knocking down the Mazda 3 in second position (328 points), the BMW 3 Series in third (290 points), Toyota Corolla (118 points) in fourth and Jaguar I-PACE (109 points) in fifth.

According to JCOTY, Toyota RAV4 overwhelmed because it “responded to all needs at a high level,” and was also accessible in three distinct types of all-wheel-drive systems. Other strong points include the comfort and enjoyment that came along with the pricing, TNGA platform, Japan-exclusive data communication module and luggage space.

The reports state that the RAV4 is the 40th vehicle that obtained the greatly desired JCOTY title, with the past winners being the Volkswagen Golf (2013-2014), Mazda Demio/2 (2014-2015), Mazda Roadster/MX-5 (2015-2016), Subaru Impreza (2016-2017), XC60 (2017-2018), and Volvo XC40 (2018-2019).

Further down the list, Jeep Wrangler (56 points) took the sixth position and is followed by Honda N-WGN (54 points), Mercedes-Benz A-Class (53 points), Nissan Days / Mitsubishi eK Cross (35 points) and lastly, the Daihatsu Tanto (21 points).

In addition, special prizes were also granted to the Jeep Wrangler, which earned the Emotional Award for its strong on- and off-road skills, and the Nissan Skyline obtained the Innovation Award for its unique “hands-off” ProPilot 2.0 semi-autonomous driving system.

Moreover, the Nissan Dayz and Mitsubishi eK achieved the Small Mobility Award for enhanced safety, manoeuvrability and driving support systems.

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