AJAC’s 2014 Canadian Car of the Year Awards

Press release

Twelve “Best New” category winners were announced today by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada, better known as AJAC.
The twelve “Best New” categories cover the full new-model spectrum, including “Best New Small Car,” “Best New Luxury Car,” and “Best New SUV/CUV.”   Most mainstream categories are further divided by price, such as over or under $35,000, to better provide fair and relevant comparison.   The top three finalists by category are copied below.

The category finalists represent the vote results by the largest group of Canada’s best-known automotive journalists, who recently gathered in Niagara Falls, Ontario for a five-day test-drive evaluation of brand-new or significantly changed vehicle models. The event, known as “TestFest,” was hosted by the Niagara Parks Commission, and Shell Canada is the official fuel supplier.

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The vote results are not the personal opinion of just one journalist. Rather, they are based on a combination of objective data and evaluation by 80 journalists of 174 vehicles. Each journalist drives vehicles in a category back-to-back on the same day, under the same conditions, on closed and public roads, so as to ensure consumer relevance.

Every detail, from safety features to cargo capacity, is thoroughly scrutinized and individually rated by secret ballot. Over 40,000 data fields are generated by the journalists. KPMG then tabulates the information from the ballots in order to determine the winners.  The vote results are kept confidential – even from AJAC – until announced publicly.

The journalists’ evaluations are combined to select a winner in each of the twelve categories. The winners are:

Best New Small Car (under $21k)

Mazda3

Best New Small Car (over $21k)

Mazda3 Sport

Best New Family Car (under $30k)
Kia Soul

Best New Family Car (over $30k)

Mazda6

Best New Luxury Car (under $50k)

Lexus IS 350 RWD

Best New Luxury Car (over $50k)

Infiniti Q50 Hybrid

Best New Sports/Performance

Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

Best New Prestige Car
Mercedes-Benz S Class

Best New SUV/CUV (under $35k)

Jeep Cherokee

Best New SUV/CUV ($35k to $60k)

Kia Sorento

Best New SUV/CUV (over $60k)
Acura MDX

Pickup

GMC Sierra

*The results were tabulated by KPMG, the accounting firm that works with the association and its Canadian Car of the Year awards.