The Volvo XC60 bagged the coveted title of Japan Car of the Year (COTY) in 2017 and the Swedish marque is back for another with as their compact SUV, Volvo XC40 was crowned as Japan COTY for 2018.
A total of 60 jurors, made up of motoring journalist and industry experts were torn between the XC40 and Toyota Corolla Sport with the final tally of 363 to 314 votes respectively. The Volvo was praised for its dynamic yet comfortable driving characteristics as well as its petite dimensions that is perfectly suited for Japanese roads.
Its inclusion of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems as standard fitment across all variants, high-quality Scandinavian design and substantial functional storage space also helped the compact SUV to edge ahead of the competition.
Japan COTY 2018 Final Scoring:
| Model | Points |
| Volvo XC40 | 363 |
| Toyota Corolla Sports | 314 |
| Volkswagen Polo | 197 |
| Toyota Crown | 170 |
| Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross | 156 |
| Mazda CX-8 | 111 |
| Alfa Romeo Stelvio | 106 |
| BMW X2 | 47 |
| Honda Clarity PHEV | 36 |
Volvo Japan CEO Takayuki Kimura said, “After the XC60 won last year, we are ecstatic with this back-to-back victory and I’d firstly like to thank our nationwide staff for this award. The XC40 is the perfect size and competitively priced for the Japanese market so we hope to transfer this award into solid sales.”
The Volvo XC40 is currently sold in Malaysia in a sole T5 AWD R-Design variant. Locally assembled in Volvo’s Shah Alam manufacturing plant, the fully equipped (R-Design, City Safety, semi-autonomous driving and more) XC40 is priced extremely competitively at RM255,888.
IMAGE GALLERY
Volvo XC40 T5 AWD R-Design in Malaysia
