Cars & Autos | Sunday 25 November, 2018 6:40 am |

Women’s World Car of the Year announce Volvo XC40 as the Supreme Winner of the 2018 awards, chosen from two rounds of voting.  The Jury representing the Middle East is pioneering female Motoring journalist, Shereen Shabnam, based out of the UAE. In alphabetical order, the six cars that made it through round one of the 2018 Women’s World Car of the Year were:

• BMW X2
• Jaguar E-PACE
• Jaguar I-PACE
• Peugeot 508
• Porsche Cayenne
• Volvo XC40

The women motoring writers then voted again with the Volvo XC40 emerging as a front-runner in what transpired to be an extremely tight vote between the Top 3 finalists, which were:

• Volvo XC40
• Jaguar E-PACE
• Jaguar I-PACE

 

The Volvo XC40 is a compact luxury crossover SUV manufactured by Volvo Cars originally designed by Thomas Ingenlath and revealed in September 2017. It was the first time a five-door SUV had been released by the Swedish company, Geely Sweden AB, which is owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. 

Since then the Volvo XC40 has won a string of awards including being named at the Geneva Motor Show as 2018 European Car of the Year. Volvo and the XC40 can now add the Supreme Winner of 2018 Women’s World Car of the Year to that list – from the only car awards in the world voted entirely by women motoring writers. 

Accounting and consulting company, Grant Thornton, has been associated with Women’s World Car of the Year since its inception in 2009. The judging process is by secret ballot and votes are monitored from the company’s Auckland (New Zealand) office. Partner, Paul Kane, said the final voting this year was extremely close but in the final run, the XC40 just nudged past the Jaguar E-PACE to take the top prize.

Holly Reich Dream Car Award:

Judges are asked to nominate their dream car, the one they would love to own and drive. Receiving the most votes in this category, and a clear winner, is: 

Aston Martin Vantage

The 4.0 litre twin-turbocharged V8 was designed by Marek Reichman, the British industrial designer who is Chief Creative Officer and studio head at Aston Martin. This two-door, two-seater coupé firmly puts to rest the fallacy that women prefer not to drive a sports car.   

The Dream Car Award is named after a jury panellist in Women’s World Car of the Year from New York who died in October 2016. Holly Reich was on the judging panel for six years and was an avid admirer of exotic and stylish cars. The vote this year amply reflects her thoughts. 

Woman of Worth Award – WOW:

This award is introduced for the first time this year. It recognises a woman in the motor industry whom judges felt deserved specific mention. Nominations were called for and the winner by majority vote is:

Fiona Pargeter, Jaguar Land Rover.

The former global PR communications director was recently promoted to the new role in Jaguar Land Rover of customer experience director, with added responsibility for marketing communications.

Judges in Women’s World Car of the Year said Fiona has consistently encouraged women to participate in launches, in women’s events, as customers, and has contributed significantly towards making Jaguar Land Rover one of the leading companies in the world in this regard.  

Women’s World Car of the Year founder and managing director, Sandy Myhre of New Zealand, said Jaguar Land Rover has supported the awards since inception in 2009.

“The first car to win our Supreme Award in 2009 was the Jaguar XKand that year the company sent women executives to our first presentation in Knightsbridge in London.

“The F-PACE won the award in 2016 and the company made history with a press conference to mark the occasion. It was the first time since the motor car was invented that 11 women motoring writers had been together in the same room at the same time.”

The judging panel for the 2018 Women’s World Car of the Year awards consists of 34 women motoring journalists from 27 different countries. By December 2018 that will increase to 36 journalists from 28 countries and more will be added throughout 2019.

Discussions are under way with Volvo, Aston Martinand Jaguar Land Rover to present certificates and trophies for their outstanding achievements in these three categories of awards in Women’s World Car of the Year 2018.