On October, 28th during the business brunch in loft Vitrina in Moscow the steering committee of the National Award of Automotive Business Expert TOP-5 AUTO announced the launch of the 9th season (2020-2021) of the contest. The event was attended by the Jury's members, media-partners, representatives of companies and brands such as JAC, KIA, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Volkswagen, Volvo.
The steering committee presented the long-list of entrants which includes more than 60 new or substantially renewed models during 2020.
The list of the main nominations of TOP-5 AUTO award has not changed from previous years and currently includes the following categories: Compact City Car; Large and Executive City Car; Compact Crossover / Offroader and SUV; Large Crossover / Offroader; Sports Car / Coupe / Roadster / Cabriolet/. The special nominations are Light Commercial Vehicles / Pick-up, Auto-Person of the Year and PR-department of a Car Manufacturer.
The main title which will be awarded based on the Jury's voting results is Car of the Year. The first Car of the Year in Russia is Porsche Taycan. The model has got the right to carry this title last year when the voting for the COTY was held for the first time.
According to the Rules and Regulations of the Award after the final confirmation of the long-list special assessment tables with all the entrants will be distributed to the members of the Jury. The selection of nominees will be carried over until the end of February next year. The experts will evaluate the vehicles by five main criteria: price-quality ratio, styling, technical innovations, comfort and usability. Five entrants in each category with the best results will become nominees of TOP-5 AUTO 2021. Nominees in the special category Auto-Person of the Year will be selected on a basis of data from media monitoring conducted on more than 300 Russian federal and regional mass media by Mediascope Research Company.
Upon finalizing results of the qualification round in the second half of February 2021 the steering committee will announce the short-list of nominees of the ninth season.
The TOP-5 AUTO awarding ceremony 2020/21 will take place in May 2021. Counting of the votes and their certification will be carried out by the international audit and consulting company KPMG.
"We are starting a new season. I am glad that TOP-5 AUTO decently overcomes the current difficult circumstances and keeps developing despite all odds. Last year for the first time in the history of the Russian car market our respected expert Jury granted the Car of the Year title. This season is expected to be very interesting because the car market and business move forward meaning that competition among our nominees will be even harder. On behalf of the steering committee, I congratulate everybody with the new 9th season of our award and wish good luck!" - Sergei Myshliavtsev, Executive Director, National Award of Automotive Business Experts TOP-5 AUTO.
