[GTO]

Grabbing 41% of the votes on this poll, the Mahindra Thar is the Team-BHP Car of 2020. This 4x4 generated a lot of hype, lived up to it IMHO and exceeded the sales projections of its own maker! Mahindra actually added 50% manufacturing capacity (2000 -> 3000 units / month) to address the long waiting list for the car.

The 2nd-generation car has sure expanded the Jeep's appeal. Because of its superior build, better interiors & all the amenities, the Thar can be used as a daily driver. But only if you accept its many compromises.

I've said this before and will say it again = Few cars pull the strings to your heart the way that the Thar does. You'll enjoy looking at it, you'll enjoy driving it, and it'll fill your drives with smiles & laughter .

[ph03n!x]

Adding this year's data to this good-to-know collection!

A vehicle that doesn't meet the requirement for most car buyers, a 4WD that doesn't have a great ride, luggage space, or rear seat ergonomics, and costs as much as 16 to 18 Lakhs on-road depending on the state of registration - winning this year's poll goes to show the aspirational value a good jeep carries. Kudos to M&M for recreating the icon (albeit with ample inspiration!), and marketing it well. I hope they get over the capacity issues, as well as sort the initial niggles soon!

A word to @GTO on the niggles - my Thar is affected by the Water-in-Fuel niggle, and has been confirmed to be electrical connection issue. But I'd still vouch for the Thar, and will recommend you to get it instead of waiting it out - in spite of visiting the dealership 4 times after the first service (in 2,400 KM), I'm amazed at how they are handling the issue, and the kind of attention each small issue is gaining from MRV as well as the CCM teams at M&M. If you book one now, chances are you'll get it in Q4 or so anyway

On the Tata twins - if not for the Thar, my vote would have gone to the Nexon EV. The product quality, the addictive torque, and the negligible running cost, all at a VFM price point make it a winner. The Altroz is one heck of a head turner too.

The highlight of this year's poll? The top 3 cars are all GNCAP tested to be safe - ~72% votes to 4 Star+ rated cars! Let other manufacturers take note now, this not some random poll, BHPians put their money where their vote is too!

Originally Posted by KiloAlpha

For those who are interested, here is a history of Team-BHP Car of the Year.

2009
Car of the year: Tata Nano
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...tata-nano.html
Total Votes: 1058
Tata Nano got 406 votes (38.37%)
Vehicle sales: Flop. After the initial excitement, sales dropped off. Now discontinued.
T-BHP Official Review: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ve-review.html

2010
Car of the year: Ford Figo
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ford-figo.html
Total Votes: 979
Ford Figo got 375 votes (38.3%)
Vehicle sales: Hit. Sold a consistently high number (5-6K per month) in the initial 3 years, then tailed off. Was replaced by new generation Figo, which is a sales flop.
T-BHP Official Review: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...go-2010-a.html

2011
Car of the year: Mahindra XUV5OO
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ra-xuv500.html
Total Votes: 2626
Mahindra XUV5OO got 1487 votes (56.63%) - the highest winning margin.
Vehicle sales: Super hit. Continued to consistently be the top performer in the segment until a couple of years back. Updated model is (finally) on its way.
T-BHP Official Review: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ve-review.html

2012
Car of the Year: Renault Duster
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...lt-duster.html
Total Votes: 2122
Renault Duster got 1135 votes (53.49%)
Vehicle sales: Super hit - at the time. Defined a segment, and sold huge numbers until competition caught up with it. Now feels badly outdated, and is a slow seller despite facelift, BS6 turbo petrol, and automatic variants being launched.
T-BHP Official Review: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...al-review.html

2013
Car of the Year: Ford Ecosport
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...-ecosport.html
Total Votes: 1362
Ford Ecosport got 696 votes (51.1%)
Vehicle sales: Moderate hit. Unique offering in the compact crossover segment, carved a niche for itself. Good sales numbers despite new competition. Facelift appeared to continue the success, but now it begins its slow decline. Best selling Ford model for a while now.
T-BHP Official Review: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...al-review.html

2014
Car of the Year: Tata Zest
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...tata-zest.html
Total Votes: 2454
Tata Zest got 962 votes (39.2%)
Vehicle sales: Flop. Has not met Tata's expectations, did not pose a threat to the Maruti DZire. Even fleet/taxi operators did not take a shine to this car.
Now discontinued.
T-BHP Official Review: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...al-review.html

2015
Car of the Year: Renault Kwid
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ault-kwid.html
Total Votes: 2363
Renault Kwid got 692 votes (29.28%) - the narrowest winning margin. Hyundai Creta polled 557 votes (23.57%), Maruti-Suzuki Baleno 330 (13.97%), and the Figo-Aspire twins got 293 (12.4%)
Vehicle Sales: Moderate hit. Initial bookings were strong, and Renault upped the game delivering to expectations. However, now selling around 5K per month - which is below expectations. Facelift keeps the interest in this model alive.
T-BHP Official Review: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...al-review.html
Kwid 1.0 review: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...al-review.html
Kwid AMT review: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...al-review.html

2016
Car of the Year: Tata Tiago
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ata-tiago.html
Total Votes: 2451
Tata Tiago got 901 votes (36.76%)
Vehicle sales: Hit. Has been (mostly) finding around 5K-7K homes every month.
T-BHP Official Review: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...al-review.html

2017
Car of the Year: Jeep Compass
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...p-compass.html
Total Votes: 2387
Jeep Compass got 1047 votes (43.86%)
Vehicle Sales: Hit. Like the Renault Duster 6 years back, it has carved out a niche at its price point and was virtually without competition - for a while. With competition catching up, and FCA's lethargy, sales have now begun their slow decline.
T-BHP Official Review: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...al-review.html

2018
Car of the Year: Mahindra Marazzo
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...a-marazzo.html (Team-BHP Car of the Year, 2018. EDIT: It's the Mahindra Marazzo)
Total Votes: 1964
Mahindra Marazzo got 726 votes (36.97%)
Vehicle Sales: Flop. It started off selling OK numbers, but sales have since fallen and is was underperforming. Fleet operators seem to have propped up the sales numbers.
T-BHP Official Review: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...al-review.html (Mahindra Marazzo : Official Review)

2019
Car of the Year: Kia Seltos
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ia-seltos.html (Team-BHP Car of the Year, 2019. EDIT: It's the Kia Seltos!)
Total Votes: 2751
Kia Seltos got 1499 votes (54.49%)
Vehicle Sales: Super Hit. With just this one model in its line-up, Kia went from nothing to the 4th highest selling brand.
T-BHP Official Review: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...al-review.html (Kia Seltos : Official Review)

2020
Car of the year: Mahindra Thar

Total Votes: 1932
Mahindra Thar got 794 (41.10%)
Vehicle Sales: Waiting period stretches to 9 months!
Oficial Review (Mahindra Thar : Official Review)

[Big Smoke]

Originally Posted by GTO

Grabbing 41% of the votes on this poll, the Mahindra Thar is the Team-BHP Car of 2020.

Very happy, but not surprised.
A COTY award is heavily dependent upon how much of an all-rounder a car can be. Thar is definitely one of the best ones.
It also has all the engine and transmission options one could currently wish for (giving EV a pass).

Actually it is quite a feat for Mahindra. If I'm not wrong, this is their second T-BHP COTY in the last 2 years, after the Marazzo.

[1.2TSI7DSG]

I think we should rename this award as BHPians choice award rather than Team BHP COTY. Team BHP COTY can be a very objective test considering allround performance.

[gus]

I am currently looking for a new car.
A few days back while I was driving back home from work with my Dad, a thar was in front of us for a while.
The super macho styling and attractive rear caught the fancy of my dad (I am already spell bound with its road presence) so much so that he insisted on visiting the showroom and having a look at the car even after me telling him that its a two door and not very practical for our daily commute.
Such is the pull of the car that my Dad who has solely left car buying on me, wanted to actually go out and visit the showroom to look at the car.

So for me It does deserve to be the car of the year, solely for this reason :P

[RaghuVis]

Absolutely well deserved!

Also shot out to TATA for capturing second and third position and taking a combined 32% vote share!

Originally Posted by 1.2TSI7DSG

I think we should rename this award as BHPians choice award rather than Team BHP COTY. Team BHP COTY can be a very objective test considering allround performance.

1) Most Auto Magazines follow the same approach of selecting their COTY.
2) Since they cannot accommodate all their favorite manufacturers, they end up having 175 categories of awards from best ORVM to most stylish looking car from rear three quarter angle.
3) Since it is an individual choice, we cannot have a proper definition for all round performance even if we create one.
4) The current process is quite simple and effective. At least we do not include cars like Glanza/Urban Cruiser. Nor do we have any small refresh getting in the list.




I did not realize that we are closing the poll early this year. Any specific reason for that? Last time, the poll was opened in first week of December and went on till 28th December. Maybe that is one reason for less number of votes

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by KiloAlpha

For those who are interested, here is a history of Team-BHP Car of the Year.

Seeing this as a collective list makes an interesting view. Because there are many COTYs out there in the list which have not exactly sent the sales chart on fire for a number of years across its life cycle. Perhaps this is a sign that as an enthusiast forum, people look at a car (and a COTY) from a slightly different lens than aam junta.

[rahulskumar]

Thar is a dream for many but contribution from Tata to market EV in India deserves to be on the top spot along with Nissan releasing Magnite with rear wiper wash for base variant at mind blowing price. Thar should definitely receive "Jeep" of the year award

[airbus]

Great to see that top three positions are occupied by our homegrown manufacturers. Kudos to both Mahindra and Tata for building safe and value for money cars. Hope Mahindra launch a model of Thar with rear doors to make it a more family friendly car

[fhdowntheline]

I think it is a very well deserved honour as Mahindra did not "give up" on their conviction that a hardcore-offroader could be an affordable option for the regular Joe, and also be rated high on the Safety quotient with active and passive safety features.

Other manufacturers who also have that capability and the products, must reflect on this a bit.

[Vinod_nair]

A well deserved win, tuck out of the park.
Will surely miss the base AX ST Petrol MT for Joes like me, maybe some other day.

[bullock-Car]

Congratulations, Team Mahindra.
When all are making incremental changes, it takes really passion and courage to come with a product, which makes people go weak in knees. This has struck all the right strings in the heart with its design and presence. You can not stop and have a look at this beauty of vehicle.

[guruji]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

Adding this year's data to this good-to-know collection!

A vehicle that doesn't meet the requirement for most car buyers, a 4WD that doesn't have a great ride, luggage space, or rear seat ergonomics, and costs as much as 16 to 18 Lakhs on-road depending on the state of registration - winning this year's poll goes to show the aspirational value a good jeep carries. Kudos to M&M for recreating the icon (albeit with ample inspiration!), and marketing it well. I hope they get over the capacity issues, as well as sort the initial niggles soon!

This is spot on. Actually quite disappointed to see the results as it doesn't really indicate any practicality and realism. This seems like a dream world which is highly unlikely in team-BHP known for honest opinions and not really the fancy stuff.

[Kosfactor]

Finally our enthusiast`s forum selects an enthusiast`s vehicle as the car of the year. Super!

This is not stickered variant of a boring vehicle, this is a ground up vehicle made to put some fun back into motoring. I hope 2021 brings more vehicles like this, maybe a 2 door Sierra with harrier drive train and a full glass roof perhaps.

[Thilak29]

Top three contenders are home grown is a pleasing thing. Altroz & Nexon are capable cars. I hope next year altroz ev makes it into the list.