OH DEAR! BMW AND CITROEN TAKE JOINT WORLD CAR OF THE YEAR AWARD!

Oh dear. Just when we thought we were special, there goes the rest of the world. It seems the Women’s World Car of the Year committee has chosen not one, but two cars as their winners! The Citroen DS3 and BMW 5 Series were named joint winners of the WWCOTY 2011.

Audited by accounting firm Grant Thornton, the results are said to have been dead centre for both cars, making it impossible to separate. Remember in March the SA Car of the Year was also in the same situation after having to name two winners, the BMW 530d and Volkswagen Polo 1.6 TDI.

“Each judge voted according to her specialist knowledge and not all judges voted similarly,” said Grant Thornton director Paul McCormick. “While some judges voted strongly in one segment this was tempered by a slightly lower vote in another.

“It was so very close between the top contenders and whatever way the voting is viewed, both the BMW 5 Series and the Citroen DS3 could not be separated – and for different reasons – and this, of course, shows the democratic nature of the voting system.”

A total of 16 international female motoring journalists voted at this year’s competition, including highly experienced South Africans Charlene Clarke and Helene Griffiths. Next year an additional two judges, one from Australia and the other from China, will be included.