This Article First Appeared In The Print On Dec 18, 2022
A few years ago, Shekhar Gupta wrote an eye-opening piece on the fragile egos and politics of movie awards, given his own experiences in the past. Thankfully, the world of automotive awards is not that bad, although it seems that almost every automotive publication and website has one award to give out. While I do not mean to belittle these awards, some of them are indeed quite irrelevant.
Here is the thing, much like anything subjective, all automotive writers have different opinions about cars. And a core reason for that is that we all have different driving styles and prefer quite different things in cars. There are those who love driving fast around racetracks in cars where the driver’s seat is barely a couple of inches above the tarmac. There are those who love the great outdoors, want cars that can go through anything and sit high up with a commanding view of the landscape. As for me, I look at the gadgets and gizmos inside and outside the vehicle, but also the practicality of a vehicle. I’m not saying that the others don’t, but when it comes to most awards, there is an inherent bias.