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Matiz bags BBC award

Our Bureau

BANGALORE, Feb. 25

DAEWOO Matiz has been declared the Best Value Car by BBC's international magazine, Top Gear. An award called the `Top Gear Award 2000' has been instituted for the first time in the UK.

An 11-member evaluation committee, after conducting a survey, declared Matiz the Best Value Car. In all, ten different segments were created for the evaluation that included Family car, Luxury car, Driving segment and Best Value Car segment.

A survey of over 300 passenger cars which included current models as well as those to be introduced was carried out by an 11-member evaluation committee by the BBC. Out of 300 cars, there were 11 finalists in the segment of the Best Value Car that inclu ded Lexus IS 2000, Subaru Impreza Turbo, SEAT Arosa, Jaguar S -Type, Jeep Grand Cherokee etc.

Matiz has won this award for proving a hit with style-conscious city folks, for roomy interiors, fuel efficiency, high price in second-hand car market, fuel economy, depreciation and other running costs. Besides attributing other qualities to the Matiz, the Top Gear panel felt `Matiz was cheap enough to make anyone cheerful'.

The other cars which won awards are Fiat Multipla in the Family Car segment, Mercedes S in the Luxurious Car segment and BMW M Coupe in the Driving segment.

Matiz is driven in 102 countries. This award is the twelfth Matiz has won, nine of which are international. Amongst others, Matiz was declared the Best Car Of The Year by BBC, India's Best Compact Car by J. D. Power Asia Pacific and World's Best Small Ca r For Design by UK Motor Show.

``Matiz is the only car to have won so many international awards,'' said Mr. B. S. Min, Deputy Managing Director of Daewoo Motors India Ltd.

In view of the growing demand for the car and to reduce the waiting period for customers, Daewoo has stepped up production of its different makes. The company hopes to wipe out the backlog of 3,200 in the waiting list for Matiz in less than a month.

The production in the Surajpur plant in Noida, Uttar Pradesh will go up from the present 4,500 to 6,000 cars in March (which includes Matiz, Cielo and Lexia models). It is likely to touch the 7,200-mark in June giving the company easy leveraging to meet the fresh bookings from customers.