Royal Enfield Continental GT becomes Indian Motorcycle of the Year 2014

Recently launched and India's only cafe racer bike, Royal Enfield Continental GT has won the Indian Motorcycle of the Year (IMOTY) 2014 award. Leading automobile magazines in India along with JK Tyre presented the most prominent awards of the Indian automotive industry, the Indian Motorcycle of the Year (IMOTY) and the Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) 2014 at The Ashok in Delhi, this evening.

Mr. Arun K Bajoria, President & Director, JK Tyre & Industries Limited along with Mr. Girish Karkera, Editor BBC TopGear India & Chairman ICOTY and Mr. Vikrant Singh, Executive Editor, Overdrive & Chairman IMOTY handed over the Indian Motorcycle of the Year trophy to the Royal Enfield Continental GT on behalf of the esteemed jury of ICOTY 2014.

The awards witnessed eminent guests including scions of the corporate world, senior officials from the auto industry and representatives from industry bodies.

The IMOTY is the most credible and coveted automotive award for the two-wheeler industry of the country. This award is an expert and independent judgment of the best new motorcycle. They are aimed at recognizing focused, consistent and rigorous efforts made by auto manufacturers, with the highest levels of performance in the areas of design excellence, innovation and R&D. The award has been gaining prominence with each passing year. JK Tyre has been associated with this award since its inception.

It is pertinent to note that though many new motorcycles were launched in the year 2013, around 17 qualified for the 2014 ICOTY & IMOTY award of which 9 made it to the final shortlist. These were further evaluated during a jury round at Lonavala, near Mumbai on December 9, 2013. It was a close competition in the top three included the Royal Enfield Continental GT, KTM Duke 390 and Hyosung Aquila Pro. The nominated motorcycles were judged on various parameters such as price, fuel efficiency, styling, comfort, safety, performance, practicality, and technical innovation, value for money and suitability for Indian riding conditions.

Congratulating the winners, Mr. Arun K Bajoria, President & Director, JK Tyre & Industries Limited said, “The ICOTY & IMOTY Awards bear testimony of JK Tyre’s relentless commitment to the advancement and strengthening of auto ancillary industry in India. This is a preferred platform brought alive to acknowledge and reward companies that feel the pulse of customers and develop products in close accordance. I would like to congratulate the winners as well as the nominees of ICOTY & IMOTY 2014, who are leaders in true sense of the automotive industry. Together we will continue striving towards newer benchmarks for India as well as the global automobile market.”

This year’s jury for IMOTY and ICOTY constituted of Girish Karkera and Sriram Narayanan (BBC TopGear), Vikrant Singh, Bertrand D’Souza and Subhabrata Marmar (Overdrive), Yogendra Pratap and Rahul Ghosh (Auto Bild), Bob Rupani and Gautam Sen (Auto India), Dhruv Behl and Ashish Jha (AutoX), Pablo Chatterji, Rohin Nagrani and Kartik Ware (Motoring), Aspi Bhathena and Sarmad Kadiri (Car India & Bike India), Sirish Chandran (Evo India) and Muralidhar Swaminathan (Hindu Business Line). This specialist jury consists of experienced Indian automotive journalists from some of the best titles on sale in India. The jury members are known for their analytical skills and competence in evaluating and testing motorcycles and cars, as a part of their profession. The experienced jury members are responsible for selecting a single decisive winner and the voting process has been designed to be very fair and unbiased.

Mr. Vikrant Singh, Executive Editor, Overdrive and Chairman, Indian Motorcycle of the Year 2014 said, "This year we shortlisted four motorcycles; all at the top of their game. The Aquila Pro is a comfortable and torquey cruiser, the 390 Duke is fast and entertaining; and the Centuro is easily the best equipped entry-level motorcycle in the country. But, our winner, and by a decent margin, the Continental GT brings more to the table. It is good looking, dynamically stable, good to ride and it is well-priced too. No wonder six out of the nine jurors rated it as their top choice."

The expert jury ensured that the voting system is fair and transparent, to make IMOTY the most coveted award in the industry. The glittering ceremony was made even merrier by a scintillating musical extravaganza presented by internationally renowned percussionist Sivamani along with sufi & ghazal vocalist Runa Rizvi and Atul Raninga on the keyboard.