2008 Audi R8 named Car of the Year by AJAC

In an early morning press conference at the opening of the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto, the Audi R8 was declared the 2008 Canadian Car of the Year by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC).

The Audi R8 beat eight other “best new” category winners, announced December 4, 2007, to win the top prize.

2008 CCOTY co-chair, Paul Williams, commented:  “With manufacturers introducing an increasing number of new vehicles each year, consumers may find it harder to keep track of what’s available in the marketplace, and how one vehicle differs from another.  The AJAC Canadian Car of the Year program identifies and categorizes all the new vehicles each year, then subjects them to detailed testing in real-world situations. It’s not a popularity contest; it’s a thorough, objective and trustworthy process to help consumers make informed purchase decisions”.

“We are absolutely delighted to have been accorded this prestigious honour and would like to thank the membership for their support”, said Diego Ramos, Executive Vice President of Audi Canada, “especially when you consider the other fine automobiles with which we were competing”.   He added, “To win these awards today is a defining moment for the Audi brand in Canada. In the past, the question has been asked, when will people realize just how good Audis are? I believe that time is now thanks to everyone at AJAC”.

AJAC’s annual Canadian Car of the Year awards program was created in 1985 with the purpose of providing consumers with sound, comparative information on vehicles that are new to the market.

For that reason, the vote results that determined today’s winners are available to consumers as a resource buying guide on the AJAC web site.   Also available are the comparative test data derived from the journalists’ extensive four day evaluation of over 170 new vehicles in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario in October.   This annual event is known in the industry as “TestFest”.  Shell Canada is the official fuel supplier of the event.

The rigorous TestFest evaluation program includes real world driving on public roads – exactly where consumers drive so that the test and vote results posted to the AJAC web site are directly relevant to potential car and truck buyers.