Alfa Romeo's Giulietta
has collected another important award, this time it has
been voted Greek Car of the Year 2011 romping
away as an easy winner from the Chevrolet Spark and Audi
A1 which took second and third place respectively. The
prestigious Greek Car of the Year awards ceremony
took place in the Kostis Palamas Hall in the Technopolis
district of the capital, Athens.
The Giulietta was came
out on top from a shortlist of eleven new cars (usually
the Greek Car of the Year is whittled down to ten
chosen finalists) which as well as the Spark and A1
included new models such as the Mini Countryman, Opel
Meriva, Nissan Juke and Volvo S60/V60.
The stylish new
Italian C-segment 5-door hatchback however collected 237
points from the jury, which is drawn from ten leading
Greek automotive magazines including the the local
versions of Top Gear, EVO, CAR, Autobild and Car&Driver.
That points tally left it as the easy winner from the
Spark (163) - which also won the special "Best Value"
award which was presented by Editorial Director of
Car and Driver, Vangelis Petrakis - and the A1
(106).
The Giulietta's prize
was accepted by the President of Fiat Automobiles
Hellas, Enrico Atanazio, from the President of the
Organizing Committee of the Greek Car of the Year,
Costas Kavathas. There were more honours for the Fiat
Group during the evening as Fiat Powertrain
Technologies' new TwinAir engine won the
"Environmentally Friendly" award, one of three special
awards that accompanied the main prize. The event was
also attended by the President of the Association of
Car Importers Representatives (AACA), George
Vasilakis, who conveyed moderate optimism about the
progress and recovery of the Greek car market for 2011.
This is the latest honour
to come the way of the Giulietta which a fortnight ago
collected another important automotive award, this time
in France, winning the Compact Car of the Year
title in the Trophée L'Argus awards which are
dished out annually by the leading French automotive
magazine and that trophy 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.
Greek Car of the Year 2011, final rankings:
Alfa Romeo Giulietta: 237
Chevrolet Spark: 163
Audi A1: 106
Nissan Juke: 103
Volvo S60/V60: 98
Honda CR-Z: 91
Citroen C3/DS3: 87
Opel Meriva: 49
Suzuki Swift: 47
Mitsubishi ASX: 45
Mini Countryman: 24
