2011 Frost & Sullivan Malaysia Excellence Awards winners announced
Research & consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan has announced the winners of its 2011 Frost & Sullivan Malaysia Excellence Awards yesterday. The awards seek to recognize the best practices of companies from diverse industries such as automotive, environment & building, energy, telecoms, logistics, insurance and healthcare.
Nine award categories were setup for the automotive industry, and they included recognition for component manufacturers, finance companies, and commercial vehicle companies. The remaining six awards were product awards for the passenger car makers.
Perodua had the most reasons to celebrate – the Alza was named Best Model of The Year while the Viva was awarded Value-for-Money Car of the Year (1.3L and below). According to Frost & Sullivan, the Alza scored high marks in the aspects of sales volume, market share, key selling points and marketing strategy among other things, while the Viva proved to be the most economical car in terms of fuel consumption, part cost and total cost of ownership.
“This award will no doubt be another milestone for Perodua as it proves that our products are well received by our customers,” Perodua Managing Director Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh said.
Naza Kia’s Forte, meanwhile, picked up the Debut Model of the Year award, which is presented to models launched between November 2009 to November 2010 that made a significant impact in the market with a substantial sales volume and positive market acceptance.
“Since its launch in November 2009, the Forte has made waves in the market and has sparked a new interest and desirability for the Kia brand. Today’s award is the sixth accolade the Forte has won in Malaysia since its launch,” said SM Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin, Joint Group Executive Chairman of the Naza Group and CEO of Naza Kia Malaysia.
Naza Kia Malaysia has sold a total of 6,878 units of the Forte as at the end of the first quarter this year. The Forte was updated earlier this year with a 6-speed automatic transmission and also added to the range is the fully imported Forte Koup.
“The market acceptance of this model was phenomenal based on its sales volume of more than 5,200 units and capturing around 2.5% of the C-segment market share in 2010. The other newly launched C-segment sedans only sold less than 2,000 units in 2010,” said Ahmad Faridz Dzulkarnain, Frost & Sullivan consultant for Asia Pacific Automotive and Transportation Practice.
The full list of automotive winners in the awards are as follows:
Automotive Component Manufacturer of the Year: AutoV Corporation Bhd
Automotive Finance Company of the Year: Public Bank
Commercial Vehicle Company of the Year: Hino Motors
Pick-Up of the Year: Toyota Hilux
Luxury Car of the Year: Mercedes Benz E-Class
Debut Model of the Year: Forte
Value-for-Money Car of the Year (1.3L and Below): Perodua Viva
Value-for-Money Car of the Year (1.3L and Above): Proton Persona
Best Model of the Year: Perodua Alza
: Proton Persona)
