Chinese brand Geely wins the China car Of The Year 2016 with the new Geely GC9 Saloon, the 1st Home winner.

At an awards ceremony during the Guangzhou Auto Show, the Geely GC9 was declared 2016 China Car of the Year. The prize was received by President and CEO of Geely Mr. An Conghui, who stated that “Geely is of great honour to be awarded China Car of the Year. 

The GC9 is just the beginning of a new series of highly competitive models. 

And as a Chinese domestic brand, we will give everything to improve the reputation of Chinese manufacturers.”

The Geely GC9 is the first domestic model to win the prestigious China Car of the Year title. There was a long list of hopefuls, with 140 candidates eligible for the honour of winning the award.

The Geely GC9 was whittled down from the initial entry list, a shortlist of ten and then three finalists, who had to convince the 22 jurors at the CCOTY Beijing test drives beginning of November.

The China Car Awards jurors reason the success of the Geely GC9 with “a perfect blend of a new modern Chinese design language with state of the art technology from Volvo. 

The GC9 is spacious, luxurious with appealing quality and overall highly competitive within the mid-size segment. It’s a leap forward compared to former Chinese domestic models.”

Jens Meiners, Vice Chairman of the World Car Awards comments, that "the China Car Awards have quickly grown into a standard of excellence on the Chinese market - a market with unique demands and preferences. 

This year's winner demonstrates that the Chinese auto industry is fully capable of creating cars that take the lead in a tough and fair competition. 

As vice chairman of the World Car Awards, I would like to convey our congratulations to the participants and winners, as well as the distinguished jury of the China Car Awards. We are proud of our inspiring and successful relationship."

The other four award’s results are as follows:

• 2016 China Design Car of the Year – Mercedes-Benz AMG GT S | 61 points
• 2016 China Performance Car of the Year – Ferrari 488 GTB | 116 points
• 2016 China Green Car of the Year – Lexus NX 300h | 92 points
• 2016 China SUV of the Year – Volvo XC 90 | 72 points

Over 80 international guests from the automotive industry came together at the award ceremony in Guangzhou to witness the final results of the China Car Awards.

The 2016 China Car Awards are based upon the expertise of 22 jurors and are hosted by the China Professional Automotive Media Editors Club (C-Club), a group of 10 highly influential Chinese automotive journalists and experts, and PRIME Research International, a global leader in strategic communication research and consultancy. 

All cars that entered the Mainland Chinese market between September 30, 2014 and October 1, 2015 have been eligible. The evaluation rules allow all jurors to vote in three rounds for the top three finalists of each award. 

After the test-drives in Beijing, two weeks before the final awards ceremony, the voting round for the final results starts.