British automaker McLaren’s MP4 -12c won the Best Supercar and the much coveted Car of the Year honours at the Middle East Motor Awards (Mema) ceremony held at Expo Centre Sharjah yesterday.

“I am proud to continue my support for the Middle East Motor Awards. As in the inaugural edition, the third edition of the Awards too has been extremely well executed and a great testament to the importance of the motoring industry across the Middle East,” said Dr Mohammed Ben Sulayem, vice-president of FIA Middle East and president of the Automobile and Touring Club UAE and the official patron of Mema.

The awards, judged by a panel of distinguished automotive journalists, chose Bentley GT V8 as the Best Premium Luxury Coupe, BMW M5 as Best Performance Sedan, and ML 63 AMG as the Best Performance SUV among other winners.

“Mema is the most coveted and prestigious award in the Middle East. It is also the most credible award of its kind, judged by 17 highly sought-after automotive experts from 10 countries, including Lebanon, Oman, Jordon, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It is also the ultimate recognition for vehicles in various categories,” said Saif Mohammed Al Midfa, director-general of Expo Centre Sharjah.

Tom Lee, head of Hyundai Middle East Regional HQ said: “The strength of the Mema awards lies with the extremely knowledgeable and influential judging panel which, with jurors from ten Middle East countries, is representative of the region as a whole.

“As a result, the awards have become increasingly important over the three years of their existence, and Hyundai is proud to have the Veloster chosen as the Best Hatchback.”

“It’s really exciting to win three awards across all the sports car categories including best premium sports car, best sports convertible and best premium sports convertible for our Porsche 911 Carerra S, Porsche Boxster and the 911 Carerra Cabrio,” said George Wills, managing director - Porsche Middle East & Africa.

“Having an independent jury to experience and select our cars as benchmarks in their respective segments is very important to us. Mema has become a highly desired accolade in the regional automotive sector.”

Other winners include Best Midsize Sedan – VW Passat, Best Executive Sedan – Lexus GS 350, Best Crossover – Honda CRV, Best Premium Midsize SUV – Range Rover Evoque and Best Premium Hatchback - VW Scirocco R.

The nomination and judging process for the third edition of the awards lasted well over eight months with each jury member required to fill in individual scorecards for all the nominated vehicles.

The judging criteria was based on various technical and consumer aspects such as vehicle design, handling, safety features, emotional appeal, value for money, etc. All the scores were tallied and the vehicles with the maximum points were awarded the prestigious titles.

The first edition of the Middle East Motor Awards was held along with the International Automobile Show in 2010 and the next edition of the awards will be held in the last quarter of 2013. – TradeArabia News Service