Volvo XC60 Wins Middle East Car of the Year 2018

Volvo’s XC60 was named as the Jury Car of the Year by MECOTY’s jury panel at the fifth edition of the annual MECOTY award ceremony. The award ceremony was held on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi International Motor Show. Volvo also emerged as a winner in two categories with the XC60 winning in the category for Midsize Premium SUVs and the XC40 becoming the topper in the Small Premium SUV category.

Commenting on the awards, Jesus Fernandez de Masa, Managing Director at Volvo Cars EMEA Importers said that the awards proved that the Volvo Cars have the right design, performance and connectivity to cater to the preferences of customers in the Middle East, which is a key market for Volvo.

Earlier this year, the XC60 had won the renowned North American Utility Vehicle of the Year award and the World Car of the Year 2018 award at the New York Auto Show. The XC40 was named as the European Car of the Year at the recent Geneva Motor show.

The new XC60 comes with steering support for the brand’s City Safety Autonomous Emergency Braking system in case automatic braking alone is not sufficient to avert a potential collision. Another notable feature of the model is Oncoming Lane Mitigation with Steer Assist, that can reduce the effect of head-on collisions and Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) with Steer Assist functionality to minimize the risk of collisions when changing lanes.

The XC40 is the first model that employs Volvo’s new compact modular vehicle architecture (CMA). This same platform will be used for all of Volvo’s upcoming models in the 40 Series, including those which are fully electrified. CMA was co-developed with Geely, and helped Volvo achieve economies of scale in this segment.

Volvo has also reaffirmed its commitment to electrify all its models that will be launched from 2019. Hybridized as well as pure electric powertrain options will be offered. The XC60 is already available with Twin Engine. Both XC 40 and XC 60 have driver assistance and safety features like the Pilot Assist system, City Safety, Run-off Road protection and mitigation, Cross Traffic alert with brake support and a 360° Camera for parking the vehicles in tight spaces.

MECOTY is the automotive industry’s most prestigious accolade in the region, and each vehicle shortlisted for the award in their respective categories is thoroughly tested by a panel of the region’s top automotive journalists on the basis of ten separate scoring parameters.