Best cars of 2023 revealed

The categories
The winners
Passenger Car of the Year – VW Polo Vivo
Biggest Achiever of the Year Passenger Segment – Suzuki Baleno
Light Commercial Vehicle of the Year -Toyota Hilux
Biggest Achiever of the Year Light Commercial Segment – Kia Picanto Runner
Medium Commercial Vehicle of the Year – Isuzu N-Series
Heavy Commercial Vehicle of the Year – Hino 500 Series
Extra-Heavy Commercial Vehicle of the Year – Mercedes-Benz Actros
Bus of the Year – MAN Bus
New Energy Vehicle of the Year for Plug-in Models – BMW iX3
New Energy Vehicle of the Year for Traditional Hybrid Models – Toyota Corolla Cross
Top Locally Manufactured Vehicle of the Year – VW Polo
Top Exported Vehicle of the Year – VW Polo
Top Imported Vehicle of the Year – Suzuki Swift

The South African Auto Week 2023 has come to an end, capping off the activities with the annual Accelerator Awards intended to give recognition to the best-performing vehicles in the industry.

Created by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa), the Accelerator Awards are based on aggregated data that looks at the performance of every car on the market, both in terms of sales and public and media feedback.

This is intended to assist various industry stakeholders, from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to the government, in making decisions that will benefit the car sector and the country as a whole.

“What makes the Accelerator Awards unique, and so coveted, is the fact that it is based on hard facts,” said Mikel Mabasa, CEO of Naamsa.

“Naamsa is the custodian of all the industry data, from sales to dealer performance, and we thought it prudent to use this information to award the outright best performers in various sales, service, and performance categories.”

The categories

This year, the awards were divided into the following categories:

Passenger Car of the Year
Biggest Achiever of the Year (Passenger Vehicles)
Light Commercial Vehicle of the Year
Biggest Achiever of the Year (Light Commercial Vehicles)
New Energy Vehicle of the Year (Plug-in)
New Energy Vehicle of the Year (Traditional Hybrids)
Medium Commercial Vehicle of the Year
Heavy Commercial Vehicle of the Year
Extra-Heavy Commercial Vehicle of the Year
Bus of the Year
Top Locally Manufactured Vehicle of the Year
Top Exported Vehicle of the Year
Top Imported Vehicle of the Year

The biggest achiever category refers to models that saw the biggest improvement in sales compared to the previous year.

This year’s awards are also notable for their inclusion of the new-energy categories, which were added due to the increasing relevance of hybrid and electric powertrains as the world continues to move away from internal combustion engines, said Mabasa.