Alfa Romeo’s Stelvio Quadrifoglio has won the Noise of the Year category at the inaugural TopGear South Africa awards. The category is one of the eight uniquely South African awards out of a total of 24 awarded at a gala function on Thursday evening (7/12/2023) at the Steyn City Helistop in northern Johannesburg.
The judging for the awards, Held in conjunction with Wesbank, takes place over the 12 months, as TopGear South Africa’s motoring experts evaluate all the cars before shortlisting them and then determining the winner in each category on an evaluation system that measures cars on all aspects of performance, ownership, quality, design, and innovation.
“Our awards are simply about context and experience. We need to have driven the cars in order to evaluate them and that is how they are eligible for nomination. None of these awards are going to cars that we have not driven. In terms of the people awards, we are celebrating people that have shown exceptional excellence in what they do,” says Avon Middleton, Publishing Partner at TopGear South Africa.
The inaugural awards, says Wesbank CEO Ghana Msibi, present the best of what’s on offer in the local market to the public. “This ensures that car buyers are fully equipped with the information they need to make prudent purchasing decisions on what is for most South Africans one of the biggest investments they’ll ever make.”
“The beauty about the TopGear South Africa Awards, is that it allows us to openly show our candid opinion and there’s nothing like that out there. Awards events in the automotive industry can be highly complicated, very technical, and poured over by many people. The TopGear South Africa Awards is a unique celebration that reflects the spirit and ethos of TopGear South Africa,” says Middleton.
Alfa Romeo is owned by Stellantis, a constellation of 14 iconic automotive brands and two mobility arms, formed in 2021 after the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and France’s PSA Group.
“I think what’s really exciting for us in terms of the Top Gear awards,” says Stellantis South Africa managing director Mike Whitfield, “is that of the seven brands that we have in this country; Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Fiat, Jeep, Opel and Peugeot, all of these are potential class leading contenders for all the other categories too. We are really looking forward to the opportunity of being measured against the best.”
Earlier this year, Stellantis signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) to develop an automotive manufacturing facility in Coega in the Eastern Cape, cementing its Dare Forward 2030 ambition to sell one million vehicles by 2030 with 70% regional production autonomy.
