There was a seemingly endless silence in the Midrand banquet hall when Porsche's Macan was pronounced 2015 WesBank SAGMJ Car of the Year two weeks ago.
Porsche's third win on the trot, following the Boxster and Cayman S in 2013 and 2014 respectively, has cast a controversial light on the competition and polarised opinions all over the show.
In the reader poll that IOL ran after the announcement, 56 percent of respondents believed that the Macan is not a worthy car of the year, while 28 percent felt it certainly was and 16 percent felt it worthy “at a push”.
Yet Coty is far more than a popularity contest, given that a sizeable jury puts the cars through a rigorous evaluation process over two days and they consider each car's merit within its own class. (If you don't yet understand how the contest works, follow this link )
One of the cornerstones of the modern SA Coty competition is that the voting process is transparent, and there is a score sheet that lays bare how each of the 28 jury members voted.
Crunching the numbers, it becomes clear that the Porsche Macan was not necessarily the most popular vehicle in the contest, technically speaking. Just seven of the jurors voted for it as their first choice, while 11 put the Audi A3 sedan at the top of their lists and 12 did so with the Mercedes-Benz C-Class. In the latter case there were no ties for first place, but the Audi tied in six cases and the Porsche in five.
While the Porsche Macan was always going to be among the top contenders in this year's competition, it ultimately won because it proved to be the least polarising.
Each of the finalists is allocated between 0 and 10 points, and only four jurors allocated five points or less to the Porsche, compared to nine jurors in the case of the Merc and five in the Audi's case.
You can liken the Porsche to a racing driver that won the championship not by winning the most races but by finishing on the podium most often. And it's a win nonetheless.
HOW THE FINALISTS RANKED
1. Porsche Macan S Diesel - 196.46 points
2. Mercedes-Benz C200 AT - 191.08
3. Audi A3 Sedan 1.4T FSI SE AT - 189.51
4. BMW M4 Coupe AT - 153.38
5. Toyota Corolla 1.4 D-4D Prestige - 127.00
6. Subaru WRX Premium - 109.00
7. Honda Accord 3.5 V6 Exclusive - 97.00
8. Renault Duster 1.5dCi Dynamique AWD - 94.09
9. Lexus ES 250 EX - 87.00
10. Nissan Qashqai 1.6 dCi Acenta AT - 61.55
11. Citroen C4 Picasso e-HDi 115 Intensive - 55.34