The victory of the MG HS at this year’s Middle East Car of the Year (MECOTY) awards appears to be a vindication of the notion that cars can offer premium features while still being good value.
Although value for money is of increasing importance for those buying cars in the region given the troubled economic climate that has resulted from the coronavirus crisis, the high end of the prestige brand automobile market is not necessarily feeling that impact.
The other big winner at MECOTY 2020 was Lamborghini, which won for all nominated models in their categories, including for Midsize Premium Performance SUV, Premium Performance Convertible, and Premium Performance Coupe.
The company also won in the Supercar categories, and its Urus and Huracan Evo models were ranked among the top prize finalists.
Super-luxury brands at the top end of the British market also did well at MECOTY 2020, with the Luxury Performance Coupe category won by the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera.
The Best Luxury Performance Convertible was won by the Bentley Continental GTC, while the Lamborghini Urus emerged triumphant within the Midsize Premium Performance SUV category.
The Bentley Flying Spur made a huge impression by narrowly beating the Rolls-Royce Phantom VII within the Large Luxury Sedan segment, successfully positioning itself as a COTY finalist.
The MECOTY awards, the only independent automotive awards in the whole of the Middle East, were announced earlier than scheduled this year.
Organised by Custom Events LLC, the MECOTY awards were established six years ago back in 2014 and see a jury panel with 14 members from specialised automotive media (print, TV, radio and online) bring a wide array of outlooks and experience.
The 14 members represent the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain and Lebanon.
The awards begin with a nomination process that includes the best in recently available and launched vehicles throughout the Middle East, with the scoring and voting process of the jury based upon 10 criteria.
Assessments of those criteria are performed via evaluation test drives that take place throughout the year.
The results would have normally been announced at a ceremony to be held at the end of the month in the capital of the UAE, Abu Dhabi, but because of the limited public gatherings announced due to the coronavirus pandemic, they were instead announced online.
Anyone who drives any kind of motor vehicle of any brand within the UAE has to by law have the car covered by, at minimum, a basic form of third-party car insurance.
However, there are a number of more comprehensive car insurance policies that can be taken out by those who are willing and able to afford to do so.
More comprehensive car insurance policies can cover everything from damage caused by bad weather to the car being stolen.
Companies that offer car insurance policies within the UAE include the likes of AXA Car Insurance and Noor Takaful Car Insurance.