The South African Guild of Motoring Journalists (SAGMJ) announced the Honda Accord 2.4 Executive as South Africa's 2009 Car of the Year (COTY) on Tuesday 17 March.

The announcement comes after a stringent process of voting and physical testing of eligible cars launched onto the SA market between 21 October 2007 and 31 October 2008. An in-depth poll of the SAGMJ full members, followed by a vote by the COTY jury, arrived at nine finalists towards the end of last year. The COTY jury, made up of the top motoring journalists in the country, then put the finalists through three days of testing in January and subjected them to a rigid scoring process.

The final audited scores showed Honda's mid-sized sedan as the eventual winner of the accolade that has been annually awarded for 24 years.

The Honda Accord beat off strong competition from the Ford Fiesta 1.6 Trend 5-dr, Suzuki Swift 1.5 GLS, Mazda6 2.5 Individual, Jaguar XF 3.0 V6 Premium Luxury A/T, VW Tiguan1.4TSI Trend and Fun 4Motion, Audi A4 1.8T Ambition multitronic, Honda Jazz 1.5 EX and Suzuki SX4 2.0 which were the finalists vying for honours in the event.

Much of the evaluation process took place at the Gerotek vehicle test facility outside Pretoria, making the South African Car of the Year competition unique amongst similar accolades awarded globally because of the extensive testing which takes place in a controlled environment. The contenders are also evaluated taking their direct market rivals into account and are therefore judged in their segments rather than against each other.

"The Accord's victory in the SA Car of the Year contest is particularly sweet, given the highly competitive market conditions, and the widely held expectation that the title would be bestowed on a compact contender," says Honda SA managing director, Yoshiaki Nakamura.

"While buying trends are favouring smaller, more economical models, the Accord is a perfect example of how space, performance and luxury can be combined with frugality, efficiency and value to deliver a highly desirable and relevant motoring package."

The Honda Accord's victory is Honda's second in the SA Car of the Year contest. The current Civic four-door sedan was honoured with the award in 2007.