Fairfax Media has today announced BP Australia as the sponsor of its annual 2018 Drive Car of the Year awards.
Now in its 13th year, the Drive Car of the Year a are designed to provide Australian new car consumers with the most relevant, and comprehensive, outline of the best vehicles on the market, defined by 15 individual categories across the different types of family, luxury and performance vehicles currently on sale.
The exhaustive process in determining the winners – and culminating in the coveted overall 2018 Drive Car of the Year – will commence in October with 49 finalists from 25 manufacturers being put through their paces over a week-long testing regime based at Wakefield Park in Goulburn in New South Wales’ Southern Highlands.
An expert panel of seven judges, with more than 150 years combined experience as professional road testers and motoring writers, will assess each of the finalists based on a strict set of criteria that focuses on value, ownership costs, features, safety, comfort and driving dynamics.
Uniquely, Drive invites the reigning class champions to defend their respective titles, ensuring the awards provide an accurate representation of which vehicles are the best in class, no matter whether they have been on sale for a few years or are brand new in 2018.
“The Drive Car of the Year awards, presented in 2018 by BP, are the most comprehensive of its type, and we pride ourselves on delivering the most relevant gauge of which vehicles are the standouts for new car customers in Australia,” said Drive.com.au’s editor in chief, Andrew Maclean.
“The rate of change in the automotive industry is at an all-time high, and consumers have never had as much choice – or quality – as they do now. That means it’s no longer a simple process – choosing either a large car or a small car, a work ute or a four-wheel drive for example – as it was in the past, as segments are constantly crossing new boundaries. For anyone to test drive them all would be inconvenient and near impossible.
“That’s where Drive comes in, as our editorial team has already driven hundreds of new cars already in 2018. Whittling the finalists down to the 49 vehicles we have was already a tough task, so finding the best-of-the-best will be even more difficult.”
With the field of cars covering more than 20,000km during the week of testing, Drive is proud to have BP Australia as the presenting partner for the 2018 awards.
BP Australia’s marketing general manager, Adam Arnold, commented: “BP has been fuelling driver’s cars in Australia for almost 100 years,” Arnold said.
“In that time we have invested heavily in the development new fuel technologies to align with the evolution of cars, especially the rapid changes we have seen in the last 20 years. The culmination of our work and technology is in our Ultimate fuels range first launched 17 years ago, our most advanced fuels for the modern car.”
The winners of the 2018 Drive Car of the Year awards, will commence on Monday November 4 with the individual category winners, culminating in the announcement of the 2018 Drive Car of the Year on Friday November 23.
