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| Europe's Car of 2017 is the Peugeot 3008 SUV. |
PEUGEOT and Citroën owner PSA and Opel recently made the news with
PSA’s agreement to buy Opel/Vauxhall from General Motors for over $2.3 billion
(over R29,2 billion).
Now two models from these stables have underlined why this marriage
can work — both companies make cars a cut above the norm. The new Peugeot 3008
SUV was named Europe’s 2017 Car of the Year at the Geneva Motorshow, replacing
the Opel Astra, which was last week named South Africa’s car of of the year. The
Peugeot 3008 was judged by panel comprising 58 European motoring journalists.
The latest Eurooeab Coty award joints twenty other prizes on the 3008’s shelve.
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| South Africa became the 13th country to vote the Opel Astra its car of the year. |
The Astra was chosen at the Wesbank South African Guild of Motoring
Journalists’ 2017 Car of the Year, making South Africa the thirteenth country
where the Opel Astra has been recognised as a Car of the Year since its global
introduction in 2015.
The latest accolade, which was announced at an industry banquet at
Kyalami on March 15, comes on the back of a multitude of awards both here and
abroad for the 11th-generation Astra. The most significant of these is the
European Car of the Year for 2016, widely considered the most prestigious and
important prize in the world of motoring.
It also picked up the 2015 Safetybest Award and the 2015 Golden
Steering Wheel Award.
The Astra’s all-round excellence has not gone unnoticed on the
local front either and since its April 2016 launch Opel’s C-segment hatchback
has received accolades including being voted Independent Newspapers’ Best of the
Best for 2016.
Two of its key strengths are exceptional efficiency in terms of
packaging, aerodynamics, weight-reduction and drivetrains, but also the way it
has democratised technology. It is packed with segment leading safety,
infotainment and driver aids usually reserved for luxury vehicles.
“The last time Opel won a South African Car of the Year Award was
in the 1990s when we won three awards with the: Opel Monza 160 GSi (1991), Opel
Kadett 140 (1994) and Opel Astra 160iS (1995),” said Ian Nicholls, president and
MD of General Motors Sub-Saharan Africa.
Exclusivity is part of the deal
New Astra owners, however, get another prize. As we said in June
last years after driving all three engines in the Astra, from the punchy 1-litre
Enjoy to the 1,6 Turbo, and lamenting that the Euro and our import taxes make
this fully-imported hatch relatively expensive, even the entry-level Astra still
offers a lot more than the competing Polo 1-litre TSI BlueMotion or 1,4 TDi
Trendline; a Toyota Corolla 1,3 Esteem or a Ford Fiesta 1-litre.
While these R254k competitors are all excellent cars with their own
merits, the Astra adds an extra lure for those whose company allowance covers a
new car payment — exclusivity, and now, the 13th Coty award to boot.
