Japan votes Toyota iQ as COTY
14 Nov, 2008
25 Comments 
It’s that time of the year again when the COTY (Car of the Year) awards start flowing in thick and fast. Among those awards today comes news that Japan has voted Toyota’s iQ, the world’s smallest four-seater passenger car, as their 2008 Japan Car of the Year.
The cute iQ almost doubled the points attained by second place winner, Citroen’s C5, to romp home the award judges say was given for efficient use of space, clever design and the ability to seat four people in a body less than three metres long. Judges also complimented iQ’s high safety levels and low CO2 emissions.
The Japanese COTY awards are scored by a panel of 65 jurors (mostly motoring journalists) who are each allowed to nominate twenty-five points. Ten points must be given to the one car they like best with the remaining fifteen points to be allocated among four other cars. In all 39 of the judges allocated points to the iQ.
The top ten list of this year’s contenders is as follows:
- Toyota iQ (526 points)
- Citroën C5 (223 points)
- Nissan GT-R (201 points)
- Audi A4 Avant (180 points)
- Jaguar XF (115 points)
- Daihatsu Tanto (100 points)
- Fiat 500 (90 points)
- Honda Freed (62 points)
- Mazda Atenza (60 points)
- Suzuki Wagon R (37 points)
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November 14th, 2008 at 9:46 am
A very sexy little car. More practical than the other cars it was up against. Fair decision. ***PRIMO***
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November 14th, 2008 at 9:47 am
What a surprise…
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November 14th, 2008 at 9:59 am
must be biased I mean they didnt compare enough cars…. /sarcasm end.
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November 14th, 2008 at 10:03 am
I’ve spent several weeks in Japan over the past 12 months, and their cars are amazing. The place is absolutely full of nissan cubes and similar vans/cars, that look like they were made out of leggo. They are absolutely classic. This IQ is absolutely streamlined compared to them. Very kawaii (cute), but dont know how safe they would be.
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November 14th, 2008 at 10:06 am
COTY aside, I’m confused.
Would’nt this serve as a contender for toyota’s entry into tata’s territory.
Or is Daihatsu going to take an IQ on toyota’s behalf and cost it down?
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November 14th, 2008 at 11:11 am
That’s a 4 seater! I guess it is in Japan.
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November 14th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Just quietly, a Toyota insider has informed me that TMCA are looking at bringing the iQ to Australia in 2010.
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November 14th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Japan’s Smart Car
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November 14th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
We need this car here. Soon.
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November 14th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Four seater for contortionists.lOL
Next they will claim a five star ncap rating.LOL
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November 14th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Looks like they copied NIssan.
Japs copying Japs well that is a first.LOL.
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November 14th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Pious, it gets a 5 star crash rating. I don’t like this car, not at all, I think its ugly, but it is cute.
I would take a Smart over this any day and of course, it may be the smallest four seater in the world but it’s not as if the Fiat 500 is big or a whole host of other superminis that can comfortably take four people and pull off a 5 star NCAP rating.
I think this is a bit biased towards Japan, simply because it got more than double the points of the next best car. I’m not saying that it’s a bad car, but Top Gear (UK) reviewed it in the November issue and said that it’s too heavy for the engine and the interior, although good looking, is very cheap feeling. It’s expensive too - in the UK, it starts at 9,495 pounds (the Aygo with the same engine and similar size starts at 7000) and its another thousand for the vital CVT. You can get a well specced, good quality, cool Fiat 500 for that price.
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November 14th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Was going to ask if anything other than Japanese has won this award?
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November 14th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Something wrong with the way these stars are awarded!
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November 14th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Japanese COTY-Who cares?
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November 14th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I never take these awards seriously, Japan COTY nearly always award it to a japanese car, European COTY nearly always give it to a european car. They are about as biased as it gets.
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November 14th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Well I’m amazed. No wonder Ford and GM are dying. If ever there was a time to have mini commuters then Tojo are on the mark.
I wonder whether this is the $5000 car CA wrote about earlier this week, although I somehow doubt it. I’d certainly drive it to commute in Sydney peak hour traffic.
Good work Tojo. Any pics specs available?
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November 14th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Greenroom, this is certainly not the $5000 car. In the UK, the starting price is about 1500 pounds more than a Yaris, as if the Yaris wasn’t overpriced already. The only spec I am certain of is that it uses a 1.0 3 cylinder petrol engine, but I think a 1.3 (probably a 4 cylinder) is on the way. Alan, to be fair, at least the European cars for COTY usually deserve it.
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November 14th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Grammar Nazi Says: “We need this car here. Soon.”
No we don’t, thats why its not here.
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November 14th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Personally, i’d vote the ZR1, but hey, this is a close second lol
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November 14th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I heard after 100,000km is on a car in Japan, it needs to be sold straight away overseas.
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November 15th, 2008 at 4:43 am
Ever heard of the Ka greenroom
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November 15th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Looks good and would be the pick of the micros, but the Toymota iQ beats the Nissan GT-R for Jap. COTY - how did that happen?
GM is making a competitor for the iQ out of old packing crates as they are bankrupt. Maybe it will make US COTY.
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November 17th, 2008 at 9:16 am
I think the reason that these micros are so popular in Japan is that in the cities they have nowhere to park cars, and largely the streets are so narrow. in the older areas, they dont really have footpaths except on main streets, so in the residential areas of Tokyo/Kyoto, you walk straight out of your front door onto the street (usually not much more than 1 lane), and cars end up being parked all over the place at night, sometimes with bits sticking into the street. If I was to hire a car in Japan, it’d definately be something tiny like this.
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November 20th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
I’m going to have to agree with Pious. As someone who has travelled around japan on several occasions, I can tell you that driving over there involves a completely different skill set that is required here. As much as I would love to own a GTR or HSV commodore, owning these type of cars in Japan would be an ordeal. Roads are narrow and there is minimal parking. What makes a brilliant car for some markets does not always make it so for others. COTY in japan is nearly always going to go to a small car.
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