AJAC's Canadian Car of the Year Awards TESTFEST FACT SHEET
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AJAC’s Canadian Car of the Year Awards TESTFEST FACT SHEET Official Name: 2016 Canadian Car of the Year (CCOTY) Awards program by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). The term “TestFest” refers to the annual back-to-back testing by some 80 Canadian automotive journalists that annually takes place at the end of October. History: This year’s TestFest is now 27 years old. 2015 is the 28th edition. The first “TestFest” was held April 7 – 10, 1988 at Shannonville Motorsport Park. The event was not called a “TestFest” but was referred to as the "First Annual AJAC Convention". 1993: The term "TestFest" was first identified and used by journalist Marc Lachapelle during the Annual General Meeting. Lachappelle, as chair of the Car of the Year Group, proposed that "TestFest" have one guiding principle: "One team, one category, one day.” Location: TestFest was held at Shannonville Motorsport Park, east of Belleville, Ontario, from 1988 until 2005. TestFest moved to Ontario’s Niagara Region in 2006. TestFest is now located at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Clarington, Ontario for the first time in 2015. Sponsors / Partners: Bridgestone Canada has been the event sponsor since 1997. Shell Canada has been the “Official TestFest Fuel Supplier” since 2005, and marks its tenth anniversary with us this year. KPMG is the official vote tabulator, and keeps the results confidential until the winners’ press conferences (see below). The Evaluation Program: Vehicles are divided into numerous categories defined by vehicle type, pricing, and segment. Each testing category sees its highest-scoring model declared a winner. All category winners then compete in a second round of voting for the overall title of Canadian Car of the Year, Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year, Canadian Green Car of the Year, and Canadian Green Utility Vehicle of the Year. The Canadian Car of the Year awards are open to passenger vehicles that are all-new or significantly updated for 2016. The CCOTY test program capitalizes on the experience of some 80 respected member journalists, who drive all entries back-to-back on a series of routes including public roads, a performance course, handling course, and an off-road course, simulating a range of conditions that a consumer would likely experience in daily driving. Category winners, and the overall winning vehicles each year, are far from the only important results to come from the intensive annual testing program. “Our program is absolutely testing-based, and driven by data and weighted scoring,” says Justin Pritchard, CCOTY co-chair. Experienced vehicle testers drive all entries in a category, back to back, on the same day. Each tester will drive several categories over the course of the program. This testing process generates thousands of data points across dozens of voting fields. We share every aspect of this testing data online, so shoppers can see exactly how a given vehicle won its category, or how it stacked up to the category winner. “Whether you’re interested in one of this year’s category winners, which we’ll announce in November, or another model from a previous year, every bit of our testing data and voting data is shared online, along with tools to compare vehicles across various categories and years,” Pritchard says. “Our performance data, which is factored into every vehicle’s overall score, is also published. The goal is ultimately to provide highly relevant consumer-driven information for Canadian shoppers to take with them into the marketplace.” WINNERS Four press conferences are held to declare the winners as follows: November 24, 2015: 2016 “Best New” category winners announced. January 14, 2016: 2016 Best New Technology winners announced at the Montreal Auto Show, along with the top three CCOTY and CUVOTY finalists. February 11, 2016: 2016 Canadian Car of the Year and Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year announced at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto. March 23: 2016 Canadian Green Car of the Year announced at the Vancouver Auto Show. CONSUMERS Mission statement: The purpose of the Canadian Car of the Year Awards (CCOTY) program, created by journalist members of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), is to provide consumers with sound, comparative information on vehicles that are new to the market. As soon as the Canadian Car of the Year Award winners are declared in their respective categories, the comparative test data and vote results are posted to the AJAC web site for use by consumers as a resource buying guide. Consumers’ Feedback: AJAC’s five consumer surveys (1999 – 2013) show that winning the Canadian Car of the Year (CCOTY) award is important to potential buyers of new cars. The consumer surveys were conducted by Maritz Research on behalf of AJAC. 2013 100% of Honda Accord buyers indicated that they were familiar to some extent, either very familiar, or somewhat familiar with the fact that the Accord had won the Canadian Car of the Year Award. Compared to previous award influence surveys, the awareness level has gone up from 74% (2008) to 100% (2013). 56% of survey respondents said the AJAC Canadian Car of the Year Award had a positive influence in the purchase decision. 2008 74% of the 2008 Buick Enclave buyers were aware that this vehicle had won the Canadian Car of the Year Award. Of those buyers, 41% said the award had a positive influence on their buying decision. 2005 54.8% of those who purchased a Mazda3 were aware it had been selected as Canadian Car of the Year by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada. Mazda3 buyers confirmed an influence of 58.4%. 2002 A survey of Nissan Altima buyers showed an awareness of 69.6%. 47.5% of the 2002 Canadian Car of the Year buyers claimed the award’s influence to be "strong to extremely strong.” ADDITIONAL INFO For more information about AJAC’s Canadian Car of the Year Awards, please visit the AJAC web site at www.ajac.ca. .