Toyota, Honda won big at the ASEAN NCAP Grand Prix Awards 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: In the ASEAN region, the New Car Assessment Programme for Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN NCAP) organizes the Grand Prix Awards biennially to commemorate the high performers in the vehicle safety field. Due to the ongoing pandemic, this year the organization held its 4th award ceremony virtually through an online Webex platform, where the Japanese automakers - Honda and Toyota bagged the top honors. 

The two main categories of the awards were - Excellent Award and the Best Safety Performance Award. In the first category, Toyota leads the way with four wins, one for the brand achieving the highest number of 5-stat ratings during 2019-2020 and the other three for continuous safety improvement each for the Hilux, Corolla Altis, and Innova. Talking about Honda, the automaker’s all-time popular City received an award in the consistent 5-star category.

Other winners of the Excellent awards include:

• Isuzu D-Max - Continuous safety improvement 
• Mitsubishi Xpander - Most viewed ASEAN NCAP YouTube video
• Vinfast - New manufacturing safety commitment

Moving to the Best Safety Performance Awards, in this category Honda’s Accord sedan was seen as the runaway winner. It clinches the award for both child and adult occupant protection, as well as received the highest overall safety rating in its class. Although Toyota Majesty/Granvia outperformed the Honda sedan in safety assist parameter. 

Besides these, ASEAN NCAP also gave awards to three persons affiliated with the agency. It includes: 

• Prof. Dr. Wong Shaw Voon - ASEAN NCAP Vehicle Safety Ambassador
• YBHG. Prof. Datuk Mohamad bin Dalib - Automotive Safety Pioneer
• TS. Dr. Siti Zaharah Binti Ishak - Child Occupant Safety Champion

“Over the years we saw great efforts have been put forward by vehicle manufacturers to ensure their vehicles are offered with the best safety features for the road users,” said Adjunct Professor Ir. Ts. Dr. Khairil Anwar Abu Kassim, Secretary-General and Acting Chairman for ASEAN NCAP.

He further added, “We would like to recognize not only vehicle models but also organizations or individuals who have word hand-in-hand with ASEAN NCAP and continuously strived to ensure the significance of vehicle safety.”

Also read: 2021 Honda City Hatchback: Everything we know so far