Toyota Corolla Cross scoops SA Car of the Year title

The Toyota Corolla Cross has been voted the 2022 South African Car of the Year by the SA Guild of Mobility Journalists (SAGMJ).

The locally-built car was selected from 25 semi-finalists and also won the Compact Family category, while the Corolla Cross Hybrid won the New-energy category.

The Corolla Cross was launched in November and achieved instant success, becoming SA’s best-selling car after just a few months on the market. 

Other category winners for this year’s competition are:

• Compact Category: Toyota Urban Cruiser

• Midsize Category: Mercedes-Benz C-Class

• Performance Category: Volkswagen Golf GTI

• Adventure SUV Category: Toyota Land Cruiser 300

• Double Cab 4x4 Category: Nissan Navara

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class won this year’s prestigious Juror’s Excellence Award. Introduced in 2021, the award is particularly impressive as it only considers the raw scoring of the expert jurors without automated scoring factors. The overall winner includes additional scoring criteria such as sales, segment share and specification-adjusted pricing.

The Budget and Premium categories did not have any 2022 contenders.

The public has become more involved in the scoring/voting process over the last four years via social media, with the Peugeot 208 winning this year’s Motor Enthusiasts Choice Category.