The air bag: The everyday upside of motor awards glitz

Every industry has its own award ceremonies – and the motoring press is no different. Thanks to my position as The National’s motoring editor, I take part in the Middle East Motor Awards.

The Middle East Motor Awards. Courtesy Expo Centre Sharjah

Seemingly every industry has its own award ceremonies – and the motoring press is no different. As we rapidly approach the end of 2014, groups of motoring hacks the world over will be hosting ceremonies and awarding gongs to the manufacturers, the dealers and the journalists who have made a mark in the past 12 months. It’s like our own little Oscars season, but with participants that most people have never heard of, who can just about afford a bottle of Armani fragrance but not the suits.

Thanks to my position as The ­National's motoring editor, I take part in the Middle East Motor Awards. For the past two years, this has been in name only and I haven't cast a single vote because of the infuriating processes involved. For 2014, things are different – much more streamlined, so that even a dinosaur like me can nominate personal favourites without the likelihood of a forehead-keyboard interface. So my votes, along with those of 18 of my peers ­region-wide, will be fed into a system and the results announced at Sharjah's Expo Centre on November 26.

Why do we bother? For one, taking part means I get more cars going through my hands, which, in turn, means I have more things to write about. It keeps things nice and balanced, too, enabling me to come up with material about more than supercars or luxury saloons and SUVs. Sometimes, it’s nice to experience an honest-to-goodness shopping hatchback like a Yaris or a Tiida, if only to keep one’s feet on the ground.

Looking back on the past few months of driving, though, one thing has become abundantly clear to me: cars are getting so good that it’s becoming almost impossible to criticise them. Is there actually such a thing as a really bad car these days? There is, but thankfully they’re normally not on sale in the more demanding markets, of which the UAE is definitely one. And there’s no denying it, no matter how much you might disagree with the findings of me or my contemporaries, the opinions of journalists (and, by association, awards judges) do still count.

If you were to compare the output of manufacturers today with that of 20-or-so years ago, you’d be shocked at just how far things have come. Standards of safety, comfort, refinement, technology, economy and design aesthetics are all things we compare, contrast and comment on. Buyers may take no notice, but I know for a fact that manufacturers do. They’re often outraged by the things that we critics say, but they eventually get over it, listen to our findings and make improvements to their output.

So when the Middle East Motor Awards announces its winners and losers, these snippets of information will be filtered and fed back to the men and women at the sharp end – the ones who design, engineer, build and sell the cars we all drive. And even I have to stop and remind myself from time to time that what we do does make a difference. So, too, does your opinion, because whenever I receive an email full of praise or dismay regarding a car or dealership experience, it’s sent straight on to the very people who can make a difference.

It’s a partnership, when you stop to think about it. Our voices don’t go unnoticed, although it may often feel like they are. But together we can, and do, make our cars better – the quality of the automobiles on offer today is testament to that fact.

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