For the ninth consecutive year, La Tribuna has presented its Car of the Year award, which is decided by the newspaper’s readers. The new Fiesta scooped the award with the highest score (830 points), followed 90 points behind by the Audi A4 (740 points), with the Renault Mégane in third place with 600 points. A total of 21 different models from 19 carmakers took part in this regional competition
Ford of Spain President José Manuel Machado, who attended the awards ceremony despite being on crutches due to a minor accident, thanked everyone present.
“Receiving this prize encourages us to continue working to move our sector forward despite the crisis,” he said.
Machado pointed out that 170,000 new Fiestas have been produced in Spain since its launch in 2008 and that its European sales have surpassed 500,000 units.
Machado also said that “we at Ford and the whole industry are facing difficult times and that is why all car makers try to work as hard, and with as much creativity, as possible.”
He also praised the Spanish Government’s scrappage programme for its positive effect on sales and the firm and early support showed by the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha to the programme.
This award is the latest in a long line of accolades received by the new Fiesta in Spain and elsewhere. Ford’s supermini was also named ‘Car of the Year in Catalonia 2009′ in the passenger car category and ‘Car of the Year 2009′ by Britain’s What Car? magazine. In Germany, readers of Guter Rat and SUPERillu presented the new Fiesta ECOnetic with the ‘Auto der Vernunft 2009′ trophy, for its good value, economy and sustainability.
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