TopGear South Africa closed off 2023 with a bang as it presented the first ever TopGear Awards in Johannesburg on 7 December. Presented in partnership with WesBank, the TopGear South Africa team presented a total of 24 awards on the evening – eight unique to South Africa – in recognition of this year’s most remarkable cars, and the individuals and companies behind them. Kia South Africa scored a double win in the inaugural awards, with the cutting-edge Kia Sportage continuing its winning streak as ‘Family SUV of the Year’, and the stylish, spacious and frugal Kia Carnival celebrated a win as ‘MPV of the Year’.
Judging for the TopGear South Africa Awards is a process that takes place throughout the year as the TopGear South Africa team evaluates cars through its review process. The finalists are then selected before another evaluation and judging process takes place to determine the winners for each category. Winners must score highly using TopGear South Africa’s evaluation system that measures cars on all aspects of performance, ownership, quality, design, and innovation.
“Our Awards are simply about context and experience. We need to have driven the cars in order to evaluate them and that is how they are eligible for nomination. None of these awards are going to cars that we have not driven,” says Avon Middleton, publishing partner at TopGear South Africa.
The Sportage’s most recent award from TopGear South Africa follows three other notable accolades for Sportage over the past year, including a category win in the Mid-size SUV segment in the South African Guild of Mobility Journalists’ annual South African Car of the Year competition, receiving Car Magazine’s 2024 Best Buy Award in the midsize SUV category, Cars.co.za declared the Sportage CRDi EX a finalist in the publication’s authoritative Consumer Awards, the results due in 2024.
Playing in a small but hotly contest segment, the Kia Carnival – launched in South Africa in January 2022 – has similarly received consistent praise from press and customers alike. It’s futuristic design, spacious and practical interior, exceptional list of standard specification and powerful yet frugal turbodiesel powertrain offers customers an unbeatable package at a price point few rivals can match.
