VW Golf Titled Japanese Car of the Year

The VW Golf is a worldwide popular vehicle and it’s receiving one more trinket to its trophy box, conquering this year’s Car of the Year in Japan. 

That is an important milestone for the Golf, as this win shows the first time an imported vehicle has conquered the title in Japan.

“This is a unique award for us in so many ways” told VW Japan president, Shigeru Shoji. “First of all, our Golf 7 has become the first ever imported vehicle to conquer Japan’s COTY title and we reached this in our 60th year since VW imports launched into Japan.”

The Golf completely beat out the contest, receiving 505 votes from the 60 judges. The runner ups feature the Honda Jazz (known as the Fit in North America) which grabbed 372 votes and the Volvo V40 which took the 3rd place with 168 votes.

The Car of the Year in Japan Award also provided three sub awards. The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric model) won the ‘Innovation Award,’ the Mazda Atenza (Mazda6) grabbed the ‘Emotional Award’ while the co-designed Suzuki Spacia and Mazda Flair Wagon mini-cars conquered the ‘Small Mobility Award.’

Moreover, Golf was also titled the European Car of the Year and World Car of the Year, completing a trifecta of international kudos. Regrettably, North America won’t receive the latest generation Golf until next year.