Show car of the Year: Land Rover DC100 Created to show the potential of a proposed new Defender model, the DC100 took the Frankfurt, Los Angeles and Tokyo cars shows by storm, far outshining supercar offerings. The Defender brand is to be launched for the first time officially in the US when the model is signed off, and judging by the rave response in California, it looks as if they have this one right.
No new car in recent years has quite exceeded its brief as completely as the Evoque. Designed to give this most luxurious of brands a new starting point, and using the established Land Rover Freelander II as its donor platform, the Evoque astonishes on road as well as off it.
It drives like a hot hatch, even in its two-wheel-drive low- emissions version, while electronics help four-wheel-drive versions work in the dirt well beyond where even a seasoned Range Rover owner would go. That it can look as good as this at the same time is what will sell the car, and lowering the Range Rover brand's starting sticker by $58,000 should help a bit too.
Man of the Year: Asimo
Honda's robot isn't merely a motorised bloke. The surprisingly charming wee fellow has now "learned" to accept some level of autonomy, making decisions based on experience rather than being remote controlled. Asimo's big claim to fame this year - as well as learning to kick a ball, hop on one leg and run rather than merely walk - is his ability to take in three or four simultaneous spoken commands and translate and separate them in order. Honda says this will help with its developments in voice command systems for its cars. Asimo has learned to help at Fukushima, where humans are in radiation danger. A bit of a hero, really.
Gadget of the Year: TomTom GoLive
With its new GoLive system, which means you have a two- minute warning of jams and potential diversions, TomTom has special value if you live in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Nelson. For the first two, this is for traffic snarls, while the other two cities' battles with natural disasters mean you're less likely to head into no-go areas.
Used Car of the Year: Nissan Stagea
Three people I know have opted for this slick-looking Nissan wagon for their families' out-of-town and holiday car in recent times. Each of them wanted something for occasional towing, without having to opt for an old Falcon, Commodore or SUV.
Old Stageas go for as little as $5000, but if you spend $12,000 to $15,000, you'll get a pretty sharp version of this Skyline-based car.
Technology of the Year: Mazda SkyActiv
The revamped Mazda3 has already been vastly improved by Mazda's SkyActiv petrol engine and gearbox, and the company's upcoming CX-5 will introduce the holistic SkyActiv light, compact and efficient approach in an all-new vehicle from the ground up for the first time.
Look out for the SkyActive-D turbo diesel, in particular.
Statistic of the Year:
Our road toll
As I write this, the number of deaths on our roads is almost 100 less than last year's total. The most improved age groups are 0 to 14 years, 15 to 19 years, 20 to 24 years and 25 to 39 years. The least improved is the 40 to 59-year bracket. I see some new policing targets next year. But for all this success in terms of lowering the toll, no-one really knows why. Fuel prices, perhaps?
In the meantime, happy New Year.