Ladies pick their favourite cars

Other category winners and runners-up selected by women car writers are:
Family Car - Volvo S60 and Kia Sportage
Sports Car - Aston Martin Rapide and Audi TT
Luxury Car - BMW 5 Series and Jaguar XJ
Economical Car - Citroen DS3 and Mini One Diesel

Going green

A special award this year recognises the 'Green' Car - which does not qualify for the overall supreme award because some models are not sold in the requisite 10 countries worldwide.

The Women's World Green Car of the Year 2011 is the Audi A1 with the Honda CRZ a close second.

The 14 judges selected their short list of no more than seven cars in each category earlier this year. Final secret ballot voting was then undertaken to produce the 2011 results.

International accountancy practice, Grant Thornton, audited the results from their Auckland, New Zealand, offices. Director, Paul McCormick, said there were clear winners in each category but the overall points scoring (using 10 different criteria in each category) could not separate the BMW 5 Series from the Citroen DS3.

Very close

"Each judge voted according to her specialist knowledge and not all judges voted similarly. While some judges voted strongly in one segment this was tempered by a slightly lower vote in another.

"It was so very close between the top contenders and whatever way the voting is viewed, both the BMW 5 Series and the Citroen DS3 could not be separated - and for different reasons - and this, of course, shows the democratic nature of the voting system."

Chief judge, Sandy Myhre of New Zealand, said two more judges will be added to the jury list for 2012 - one each from Australia and China.

"These awards are unique worldwide and are gaining recognition. We began with eight original judges in 2009 and have now doubled that, which reflects the importance of a woman's viewpoint to the motor industry."

Read more at: www.womensworldcoty.com

The South African judges were Charleen Clarke and Helene Griffiths.