Thrill as Kia Rio bags Nigeria’s Car of the Year

Regarded as the People’s Car, Kia Rio, one of the locally assembled cars by Kia Motors Nigeria has truly lived up to its name as it emerged winner of the Car of the Year (COTY) Award at the 2015 edition of the annual Nigerian Auto Journalists Award,(NAJA).

At the keenly contested award night held at the prestigious Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos, which was attended by crème de la of the auto industry including the Director General, National Automotive Design and Development, NADDC, Aminu Jalal, Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Corps Marshal Boboye Oyeyemi, represented by Nseobong Akpabio, assistant corp marshal and zonal commanding officer RS-2, made up of Lagos and Ogun States, Federal Roads Safety Commission, mong others, Kia Rio beat Peugeot 301, Nissan Almera and Toyota corolla to cart away with the coveted prize.

For the Car Company of the Year, Peugeot beat Ford and Nissan to emerge winner as Innoson Vehicles Manufacturing went home with the Indigenous Auto Assembler of the Year Award.
Other winners at the award night included Mercedes Benz S-class which bagged the Luxury Sedan of the Year Award, Briscoe won the Most Enterprising Auto Dealership of the Year Award as Iron Products Industry(IPI) bagged the Auto Builder of the Year Award.

Others included; Auto Assembler of the Year, Stallion, Auto Workshop of the Year, Elizade Toyota, Luxury SUV of the Year, Range Rover, Pick Up of the Year, Toyota Hilux and Truck Brand of the Year, Mercedes Benz.  Also, Mitsubishi Canter emerged Light Truck of the Year, Independent Auto Workshop of the Year, Admiralty Motors, Auto Dealership of the Year, Globe and Sixt emerging as the Car Rental Company of the Year.

Speaking on the awards, Chairman, Nigeria Automotive Journalists Association , NAJA,   Frank Kintum said in discharging one of its duties and responsibilities as watchdogs of the society, Automotive Journalists in Nigeria organised the annual NAJA in recognition of products and persons that have stood out during the course of the year.

Kintum noted that NAJA has undoubtedly become the hallmark of the auto industry having stood the test of time for over 15 years. “In the automative/automobile sector, it is the responsibility of auto Journalists to watch closely what is happening in terms of launch of new models, entry of new brands as they affected the industry.” He remarked.

However, speaking further, the NAJA chairman charged all stakeholders to always cooperate with NADDC in order to drive the National Automotive Industry Development(NAIDP) as every stakeholder remains key in making the auto policy a success.

Giving more insight on the Car Of The Year (COTY) Award, Mike Ochonma, vice president of NAJA, while speaking   on behalf of Theodore Opara, chairman of NAJA Awards organising committee stated before dealerships the final proper, dealerships of the Nissan Almera, Toyota Corolla, Kia Rio and Peugeot 301 brands under the COTY category were approached to present their vehicles for test-drive for assessment by the Award committee.

Speaking on behalf of the awardees, the Managing Director, Toyota Nigeria, Kunle Adeojo thanked the journalists for organizing the award.  While charging the award winners not to rest on their oars as they should continue to provide good and quality automobiles   for   Nigerians, Adeojo urged those who could not win any of the awards to work harder next year in order to be recognized.

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