Autoworld.com.my Sdn Bhd Starts Car of the Year Awards This Year with Public Online Votes

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, June 24, 2010 --(PR.com)-- For the first time in Malaysian automotive history, the public shall have a chance to vote for their favourite cars in the CIMB-Autoworld Car of the Year Awards 2010. The awards shall cover all cars currently on sale and new cars launched from November 2009 to October 2010.

Jaime Cheng, General Manager of Autoworld.com.my, Malaysia's first and largest automotive portal, said, "We believe that we owe it to our 90,000 members to have a more meaningful Car of the Year Awards. Instead of just the opinions of a few judges, we would like to give members and visitors to our website an opportunity to vote for what they think are the best vehicles in each category."

She added, "In order to our readers to make their choices, we shall make available on our site, virtual product brochures, together with their specifications, write-ups from our own writers, and also those of other publications. The idea is to provide them as much information as possible so that they can evaluate the nominated vehicles based on criteria that are important to them as users, and vote for what they think is the best vehicle."

Members of the public who are not currently members of Autoworld.com.my can easily sign up to vote as membership in Autoworld.com.my is free of charge. All that one has to do is to log on to the site, click on 'Sign Up', and fill in some details. After signing up, members can participate in the voting and also in the many discussion forums on automotive subjects. Results of the online voting process carry a 20% weightage in the final score of each car.

CIMB Bank, one of Malaysia's leading banks, is the title sponsor for the CIMB-Autoworld Car of the Year Awards 2010. In a joint statement issued by CIMB Bank and Autoworld.com.my, Mr. Peter England, Head of Retail Banking, CIMB Bank said, "We are proud to be the title sponsor for the CIMB-Autoworld Car of the Year Awards, and we believe that giving the public a chance to vote for the CIMB-Autoworld Car of the Year Awards is a great idea. The decisions of the panel of judges are important, as they are made up of experts in the motoring field, but the emotional part of making a choice is also important, and we believe that giving the public the opportunity to be a part of the selection process is essential.”

Mr YS Khong, Editor of Autoworld.com.my a well-known motor sports personality, and having won numerous races on the race tracks, in addition to being 5 times Malaysian Rally Champion, has been appointed as Chief Judge of the CIMB-Autoworld Car of the Year Awards, and he shall be leading a team of judges made up of several motoring journalists and members of the motoring fraternity.

The culmination of the CIMB-Autoworld Car of the Year Awards shall be a gala dinner, planned for January 2011, during which winners of the respective categories shall be announced and presented with certificates and trophies as their just rewards.

With the outcome of the awards jointly decided by judges and consumers, the CIMB-Autoworld Car of the Year Awards seeks to establish itself as one of the most credible car of the year awards relevant to Malaysian consumers.

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