The Mazda BT-50 is our VOTY 2022 pick for Pick-Up Truck Of The Year.
When it comes to pick-up trucks, the game has been changing over the years. No longer are companies focusing on delivering the most inexpensive, barebones product. Now a sizeable chunk of the population want pick-up trucks just to drive in the city and not even to haul things around with! The urban cowboy is the target market and these are customers who are looking for a dash or premium looks, loads of technology and yet want the same durability and capability underneath in their trucks.
This year, we feel Mazda delivered with their BT-50. It was co-developed with Isuzu and underneath is essentially the new D-Max (which won last year’s award for this category). Yet a lot of what ‘makes’ the BT-50 lies in how it looks and drives and those are departments where Mazda has had a hand in.
The new Mazda BT-50 looks like a pick-up truck done by a premium German manufacturer. BMW are probably a little jealous of what Mazda have been able to pull off with this new BT-50. We think it looks good and it still has the same rugged and reliable Isuzu bones underneath which makes for a great combination. Plus, bring a pick-up truck, it comes in with very reasonable pricing in Malaysia.
Check out our review of the Mazda BT-50 here or head to the official website.
About DSF.my-Allianz Vehicle Of The Year Awards (VOTY)
VOTY is sponsored by Allianz Malaysia Berhad and is judged by Daniel Sherman Fernandez, Ross Hadi, Amirul Mukminin and Subhash Nair from Drive Safe and Fast (dsf.my) and GohedGostan.com.
Our selection process is simple and clean. All cars launched in Malaysia within 13 months of our cutoff date are eligible for entry. We contact all car brands officially operating in Malaysia and ask for our judges to test out eligible cars. There is no participation fee, no tables/seats to buy, no package deals. No car company may buy their award and that makes unique in Malaysia. It is held annually and the way we determine the winners is by having each of the experienced judges vote on their favourite car in each category.
The categories are kept as consistent as possible from year to year, but we’ve made some revisions to fit the market. Some years there just aren’t any hot hatches launched but tonnes of new hybrids or electric cars. Our title sponsor Allianz recognises the integrity of our team and leaves the decisions to us with regards to categories and winners.
