Mazda3 wins The Canadian Automotive Jury’s 2014 Best of the Best Award

TORONTO  – The Mazda3 is the winner of the 2014 Best of the Best award, the Canadian Automotive Jury (CAJ) announced live on CTV’s Canada AM this morning. The Mazda3 beat out 11 other finalists, which included a wide variety of vehicles available to Canadian new-car buyers. The CAJ’s Best of the Best finalists don’t exclusively focus on a specific model within a family of vehicles or only “all-new” models, and they include the reigning Best of the Best winner from the previous year, which is an automatic finalist. Along with the winning Mazda3, the 2014 finalists included the following: Audi RS7, BMW 4 Series, Cadillac ATS (2013 Best of the Best winner), Chevrolet Corvette, Chevrolet Impala, Infiniti Q50, Jaguar F-Type, Kia Forte, Mazda6, Mercedes-Benz CLA and Volkswagen Jetta Turbo Hybrid. The Top Three finalists were the Corvette, F-Type and Mazda3. The CAJ chooses its finalists based on the following criteria: style, design (exterior and interior), ride and handling, performance, ergonomics, comfort, space, cargo capacity, fuel efficiency and noise, vibration and harshness (NVH). One of the key considerations for choosing the winner is market significance — what the car will do to change things for both the automaker and the automotive market. According to the CAJ, the Mazda3 is a standout in the compact car segment in terms of fit, finish and technology and it accounts for 30% of Mazda’s worldwide sales. The CAJ’s annual Best of the Best Awards are unique in Canada. The not-for-profit organization is independently funded by its Jurors, 11 senior automotive journalists, and its Secretary, an automotive editor and writer, who account for the vast majority of automotive industry coverage in Canada. The Jury members are (in alphabetical order): David Booth, Patricia Cancilla (Secretary), Jeremy Cato, Benoit Charest, Jacques Deshaies, Graeme Fletcher, Gabriel Gélinas, Petrina Gentile, John LeBlanc, Éric LeFrançois, Jim Robinson and Michael Vaughan. The 2014 Best of the Best award will be presented to Mazda for its Mazda3 today in Montreal. For more information about the Canadian Automotive Jury, please contact CAJ Secretary Patricia Cancilla at patcaj1@hotmail.com

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