The new Giulietta has
collected another important honour this month: this time
the C-segment Alfa Romeo 5-door hatchback has been
elected as Auto roku 2011
v České republice
("Czech Republic Car of the Year 2011") after fending
off its two closest challengers for the title, BMW's 5
series GT and Opel's Meriva.
The Auto roku 2011
v České republice
award is
organised by the Svaz Dovozců Automobilů
("Automobile Importes Association") and the judging
works in a manner very similar to the European Car of
the Year with the jury being made up of thirty five
members which, for the second consecutive year, are drawn from the Klub motoristických novinářů
(KMN, "Motoring Journalists Club").
This year the members
of the KMN were given a list of 38 cars introduced to
the Czech market over the last year to whittle down to a
final shortlist of five contenders for consideration for
the overall award. Apart from the Giulietta, BMW's
luxury "gran tourer" and Opel's small MPV, the final two
cars to make it onto the shortlist were Dacia's new
low-cost SUV, the Duster, and VW's new
second-generation, mid-size SUV, the Tourareg.
In the end the
Giulietta collected 209 points which left it to run out
a clear winner of
Auto roku 2011
v České republice,
the jury commending in particular its Italian styling,
driveability and distinctive cabin that set it apart
from its rivals. The BMW 5 series GT (189 points)
meanwhile came home in a solid second place. Third went
to the Opel Meriva (165 points) which just edged out the
Dacia Duster (163 points) with the VW Touareg (149
points) being left with the wooden spoon.
This is the latest honour
to come the way of the Giulietta which already this
month has won the title of Greek Car of the Year
and collected another important automotive award, this time
in France, by winning the Compact Car of the Year
prize in the Trophée L'Argus awards which are
dished out annually by the leading French automotive
magazine. Those trophies followed on from three other
recent award wins: Auto Europa 2011 by the
L’Union Italienne des Journalistes Automobiles (UIGA),
Auto Trophy 2010 (Design Trophy - Compact
Category) by German's Auto Zeitung and Voiture de
l’Année 2011 from République Tchèque. The Giulietta
also came home a very close second to Nissan's
innovative electric Leaf in the most important of all
the European awards, the Car of the Year 2011.
