Auto Focus People's Choice Awards will now factor in car sales

The eighth season of the Auto Focus People's Choice Awards was formally launched on June 29 at the Valle Verde Country Club, and we were delighted to learn about two modifications that the organizers are now applying to the annual automotive survey.

First is that, in determining the winners, unit sales of the nominated cars will now be factored in. In the past, category winners as well as the overall Automobile of the Year were selected entirely from votes cast by poll participants. This modification is basically in keeping with what we pointed out almost two years ago, when we wrote here: "What do we need a voting process for in order to know the 'people's choice' when it comes to cars? Can't we determine this just by looking at the official sales numbers? If a certain car is the best-selling vehicle in the country, isn't that the true people's choice by default?"

We're not saying that the latest revision to the AFPCA rules has anything to do with the above TopGear.com.ph piece, but this is a welcome development all the same.

"Buying a particular car model is the ultimate act of preference or choice," said Auto Focus host and producer Ray Butch Gamboa. "Thus, by partnering with Stradcom Corporation, we believe we've found a suitable and reliable method through which this factor can be worked into the equation."

Stradcom, which developed and deployed the IT and interconnectivity program of the Land Transportation Office, will furnish data on the actual number of new motor vehicles by car companies, as reported to the LTO's regional and district offices. Unit sales from January to September 2012 will be used in the AFPCA selection process.

In line with this, the previous 13 model categories have now been expanded to 23 with the addition of a luxury category each for subcompact sedans, compact sedans, midsize sedans, large sedans, sports cars, minivans, compact SUVs, midsize SUVs and large SUVs.

The second modification to this year's AFPCA is the transfer of voting to the social-media site Facebook. Before this season, voting was conducted on the official AFPCA website as well as on-site at the AFPCA car show. Now, voting is as easy as visiting the AFPCA Facebook page, liking it and then voting in each category. The AFPCA Facebook page can be found at www.facebook.com/AutoFocusPeoplesChoiceAwards2012.

"We've gone through this polling exercise for the past seven years, but the learning doesn't stop," added Gamboa. "We continue with the creation of innovations to device a process that would bring us closest to the truth--the true sentiment of the public as to their most preferred model in each automobile category as well as the most liked automobile model for any given year."

Voting is from July 1 to September 30, 2012. Participants may vote only once during the three-month duration of the poll.

Well, go to the AFPCA Facebook page now and show your support for your favorite cars.