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Interfuture Media and Mangoletsi are
pleased to announce the nine winners of the inaugural Italiaspeed
Italian Automotive Awards 2006; the first annual awards
devoted exclusively to the Italian automotive industry and
voted for entirely by Italian car enthusiasts'. All the awards'
final results are available at a new dedicated microsite:
http://www.italianawards.com/
It has been a year when a bold and exciting new future for
the Italian car industry beckoned, and this renewed vigour
has captured the attention of Italian car enthusiasts' and
was reflected in the voting: during the 18 days that online
voting was open to everyone on the microsite, 119,436 votes
were cast amongst the 90 top-quality entries, spread out
between 9 different categories.
This year has undoubtedly been the year of the stunning Alfa
8C Competizione, and this was reflected in the voting
patterns: not only did this dramatic sports coupé collect
the title of Exotic Car of the Year, it also gathered
more votes (6,362) than any of the other 90 contenders.
Second place went to a sports car that raises the automotive
technological bar even further, the exciting new Ferrari 599
GTB Fiorano (4,434), while third place goes to the awesome
Maserati MC12 Versione Corsa, a limited edition version of
the MC12 presented just weeks ago in Bologna.
The glittering array of desirable new production models from
Alfa Romeo was further rewarded by voters: the Alfa Spider
(2,605) won the contest for Production Car of the Year
just ahead of another potent Alfa Romeo, this time the
improved Alfa GT Q2 (2,219), demonstrating that this
gorgeous coupé is still as fresh as ever. Third place went
to the sporty new Panda 100HP (1,124).
The new
Fiat Ducato (4,916) easily won the Commercial Vehicle of
the Year category, with another brand new Fiat LCV
product, the Scudo van (1,838) in second place, while the
van version of the Grande Punto (1,043) rounded out the
top three.
This has
truly been a year when the fabulous Italian tradition of
coach building has been revived with some spectacular
results and the winner of the Coachbuilt Car of the Year
section was the stunning Ferrari
P4/5 by Pininfarina (6,255), which finished ahead of
Autodelta’s latest road monster, the Brera J5 3.2 C (4,910),
with Zagato’s Ferrari 575 GTZ (1,638) third.
It has also been a year when Lancia, one of the most famous
and evocative of all automotive brands, celebrated its
centenary and at the same time unveiled a brand new concept
car that is set to lead it into a bright new dawn. The
distinctive looks of the Delta
HPE
(4,837) were rewarded by voters as it swept to the
Concept Car of the Year title, comfortably ahead of the
pretty little Alfa Romeo Diva sports car (2,249) and
Lamborghini’s bold reinterpretation of the iconic Miura
(1,648).
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In the "Sportsperson of the Year" category there
could also be only one winner as Michael Schumacher
bowed out after an unrivalled Formula 1 career,
having set countless records that are unlikely to be
broken for many years. |
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Voters chose the Ferrari 248 F1 (2,965), the
single-seater which helped the Scuderia bounce back
to winning ways after the disappointments of 2005,
as the outright winner of the "Racing Car of the
Year" award. |
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The Alfa Spider won the contest for "Production Car
of the Year" just ahead of another potent Alfa
Romeo, this time the improved Alfa GT Q2,
demonstrating that this gorgeous coupé is still as
fresh as ever. |
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This year has undoubtedly been the year of the
stunning Alfa 8C Competizione, and this was
reflected in the voting patterns: not only did this
dramatic sports coupé collect the title of "Exotic
Car of the Year", it also gathered more votes than
any of the other 90 contenders. |
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Voters
gave the thumbs up to the new Blue&Me (2,480) system,
developed by Fiat Auto and Microsoft, putting it just ahead
of the efficient new Fiat Starjet engine (2,338) and the
very advanced Fiat Panda Multi-Eco (1,637) in the
Technology of the Year category.
It was
another year of victories on the race and rally tracks for
Italian cars, and voters chose the Ferrari 248 F1 (2,965),
the single-seater which helped the Scuderia bounce back to
winning ways after the disappointments of 2005, as the
outright winner of the Racing Car of the Year award,
ahead of the Fiat Grand Punto Rally (2,054) which clinched
three prestigious titles during its maiden rally season, and
the Alfa 156 SuperTouring (1,967) which proved that it must
be now regarded as one of Alfa Romeo’s greatest touring cars
of all times, with more wins and a serious title charge in
year in the FIA World Touring Car Championship.
For the
title of Executive of the Year could there be any
other winner than Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne (2,246) as he
takes pride in masterminding one of the fastest turnarounds
in automotive history. Legendary Italian designer Giorgetto
Giugiaro (1,878) kept his pen busy as usual this year, and
he was second, ahead of Alfa Romeo brand CEO Antonio
Baravalle (1,060) who probably picked up many of his votes
simply on the strength of personally giving the Alfa 8C
Competizione the green light.
Finally
in the Sportsperson of the Year category there could
also be only one winner as Michael Schumacher (5,276) bowed
out after an unrivalled Formula 1 career, having set
countless records that are unlikely to be broken for many
years. A glorious era of the German together with Ferrari
came to an end with his retirement, and he was far ahead of
the second placed sportsperson in the voting, Italian MotoGP
hero Valentino Rossi (1,884), while third place went to
Augusto Farfus who simply performed miracles with the Alfa
156 in the FIA World Touring Car Championship this year.
The Italiaspeed Italian
Automotive Awards 2006 are supported by authorised Alfa
Romeo and Fiat dealership, Mangoletsi. For further
information please visit:
http://www.italianawards.com
Interfuture Media, Mangoletsi and Italiaspeed would all like
to wish everyone within the Italian automotive industry all
the best for a successful 2007.
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