Carsguide Car Of The Year 2017: A Battle Between Volkswagen Versus Toyota; Who Will Win?

Dec 05, 2016 01:10 AM EST | Jessie Valenzuela

Volkswagen Tiguan brought home the most-coveted Carsguide Car of the Year 2016 recognition amongst participating automakers for the all-star, 10-car category. Despite the adversity VW is facing due to the recent "dieselgate" controversy, it still managed to come up with the best kind of car that exhibits customer-focused quality and attributes. 

Along with Polo and Golf, the family-sized Volkswagen Tiguan SUV bagged the top spot in Australia's 20th year of recognizing the most customer-focused car makers. If everyone recalls, this is the best news so far about the company after the scandalous noise of the emission testing scandal it has brought to the automobile industry in September 2015, according to International Business Times Au Edition.

With the recent award claimed for 2016 --- will Volkswagen be able to recover and continue producing great cars, given the $20 billion fine paid in the United States for the scandal and separation of its brilliant engineers in Germany? Speculations are everywhere on what potential controversy this award is going to bring; but one thing is for sure, the next Carsguide Car of the Year award will be a lot stiffer between Volkswagen and Toyota in 2017. In terms of sales and reputation, the scandal put an end to VW's plan in taking over Toyota's top spot in automobile branding. In effect, it drastically gave a not-so impressive sales return --- seeing a very low turnover on the new car market records, news reported.

As a matter of fact, Volkswagen's rightsizing decisions with its future development plans and decision to push back from joining World Rally Championship and Audi from Le Mans, as well as the World Sportscar Championship, signify the financial struggle the firm is currently facing. These unfortunate decisions though, will help Volkswagen save approximately $100 million. Most likely, due to the "dieselgate" controversy, there's anticipation about seeing a not-so-high quality car VW will produce --- thus, allowing Toyota to optimize its financial resources, meet the Carsguide Car of the Year requirements, and win the award next year.

But wait, it is not just a battle between Volkswagen and Toyota. Just so you know, Honda and Audi are still in the lineup --- which were also the runners up for 2016's Carsguide Car of the Year.

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