The Business Standard Motoring awards, the longest standing automotive awards in the country, were announced for the year 2004 today. The new Honda City walked away with the most coveted Car Of The Year 2004 (COTY) award, warding off tough competition from the Toyota Corolla and the Chevrolet Optra. Both the Corolla and Optra fall into a larger category of cars with higher price tags and a higher performance intent compared to the new Honda City. The COTY formula has been devised to suit new cars that are both affordable and fuel efficient, and the City fitted the bill. Though the City did not score too highly in the performance ratings, its astounding fuel consumption and a very pocket-friendly price worked in its favour. Besides, Business Standard Motoring also found other subjective aspects of this contemporary sedan, like design integrity, ride, handling, ergonomics and features, of a high calibre.

Amongst the other awards announced today, the Chevrolet Forester was voted the Business Standard Motoring Import Car Of The Year 2004, for its stunning on-road behaviour and overall driver involvement. And the Suzuki Grand Vitara was given the Business Standard Motoring Jury award 2004, for effectively proving that the Maruti-Suzuki brand can straddle such diverse vehicles as a tiny 800-cc eco-commuter to a V6-powered behemoth. The Grand Vitara's power packed performance, four-wheel drive capability, ride and handling also won points in its favour.

Among two-wheelers, Kawasaki Bajaj's world-bike, the Wind 125, pipped competition in the form of the formidable Hero Honda Karizma. The exe-commuter offering from Bajaj won the Business Standard Motoring Bike Of The Year 2004 for its refined performance from what is essentially an economical 125-cc engine, with its packaging, build quality and a competitive price point helping it along.

The Honda Eterno, the Business Standard Motoring Scooter Of The Year 2004, simply re-interpreted the conventional scooter in what is still one of the world's largest scooter markets. It can change the way Indians look at geared scooters. Among all Indian scooters, it's peerless to ride, well put together, safe, comfortable and reliable too.

Only four-wheelers and two-wheelers launched in a calendar year are considered for the Business Standard Motoring awards. After extensive driving/riding evaluations, the machines are rated across an exhaustive list of parameters to arrive at the winners. Fuel efficiency and price are given extra weightage, while subjective parameters form just 30 per cent of the total points.

Business Standard Motoring awards have been announced since 1995, and previous Cars Of The Year include the Mahindra Scorpio (2003), Fiat Palio (2002), Maruti-Suzuki Alto (2001), Ford Ikon (2000) and Hyundai Santro (1999).