2013 Autocar Awards honour Renault Duster, Bajaj KTM 200 Duke

The prestigious Bloomberg TV India-Autocar Awards, held in Mumbai on January 9, recognised the movers and shakers of the Indian automotive industry.

Autocar India, Autocar Professional’s sister magazine, held its annual awards on January 9 on the verdant lawns of the Taj Lands End hotel in Mumbai. As usual, captains of the automotive industry were out in full strength, making their presence felt at these prestigious awards which have emerged as the Oscars of the Indian auto sector and highly coveted by industry. The chief guest of the evening was cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar, who is also a true-blue car enthusiast. His speech on his passion for motoring was among the highlights of the starry evening.

The big winner though was the Renault Duster, which drove away with the Car of the Year 2013 award, in the face of stiff competition as also the awards for the SUV of the Year and Viewer's Choice for the Car of the Year. The Bike of the Year 2013 award was bagged by the Bajaj KTM 200 Duke, which is a cracker of a performance bike. Including these two awards, a total of 21 awards were given away.

The awards were decided by a distinguished jury which comprised Hormazd Sorabjee – editor, Autocar India, Shapur Kotwal – deputy editor, Autocar India, Manvendra Singh – India’s leading automobile historian, Renuka Kripalani – editor, Autocar Show, Narain Kartikeyan – India’s first F1 driver, Rustom Mazda – designer, Pininfarina, Rishad Cooper – two-wheeler editor, Autocar India, Kartikeya Singhee – consulting associate editor, Autocar Show, and C S Santosh – motocross racer.

The event was a celebration of the Indian automobile industry, whose fortunes are down right now, but not for long. The industry contributes six percent of India's GDP and has a turnover that exceeds US$ 73 billion (Rs 398,361 crore).

The strong-selling Renault's Duster took home three awards, clearly indicating that the SUV has got it just right in the Indian market, be it on size, styling, engines or price.

Mahindra & Mahindra, thanks to its swashbuckling sales performance, bucked the market downturn and won the Manufacturer of the Year award. All in all, there were all worthy winners.