2024 ACKO Drive TOTM Winners Announced

Bangalore (Karnataka) [India], March 7: In a grand ceremony held at the W Hotel, Goa, the winners of the 2024 Acko Drive Awards were announced. The Hyundai Verna was crowned Car of the Year and the KTM 390 Duke took home the TOTM for the Bike of the Year.

The Verna fended off rivals like the Honda Elevate, Hyundai Exter, Citroen eC3, Maruti Suzuki Fronx, and Maruti Suzuki Invicto among others to win the top TOTM for mass cars. The BMW 7 Series won the overall Premium Car of the Year.
Hyundai was also the recipient of the Safety Tech Award for its big achievements in making a lot of safety features standard in its cars. Tata Motors won Car Manufacturer of the Year. Bajaj (along with its alliance partners – KTM and Triumph) won the Bike Manufacturer of the Year TOTM.

The KTM Duke 390 too impressed the ACKO Drive jurors but faced stiff competition from the likes of the Royal Enfield Himalayan and the Triumph Speed 400. It won the race to grab the top podium spot followed by the other bike made by Bajaj – the Triumph Speed 400.

In the Viewers’ Choice Bike of the Year category, it was again the KTM Duke 390 which was a popular choice as the most-voted bike. The Nexon EV was the most popular choice in the Viewers’ Choice Car of the Year category, garnering the most votes to claim the TOTM.

Siddharth Vinayak Patankar, Chief Creative Officer, ACKO Tech, said, “In a growing automobile market like India that is still maturing and constantly evolving, it is very important to have a credible process to recognise the best products. Despite the many auto awards we are proud to say the TOTMs do stand out as that credible, true, comprehensive awards process, where the winners are truly deserving. And where winning means something to the manufacturers, and says something about the winning bikes and cars to the consumers.”

The awards were held over two days in dual ceremonies hosted by ACKO Drive’s Chief Creative Officer, Siddharth Vinayak Patankar, noted actor and entertainer, Manish Paul, actor, producer, pilot, Gul Panag, and Pooja Kaif, a consulting anchor for us on ACKO Drive. The two-day awards ceremony was a first in the automotive fraternity and it will be aired on Sony Liv, which would also make it the first-ever automotive awards to be broadcast on an OTT channel. The TOTMs are “The One That Matters” and the whole automotive industry turned up to celebrate the wins of the best in the industry.

The awards ceremony was attended by the who’s who of the automotive industry. Santosh Iyer, MD and CEO Mercedes-Benz India, Jyoti Malhotra, MD, Volvo India, Tarun Garg, COO, Hyundai Motor India, Shashank Srivastava, Executive Director, Sales and Marketing, Maruti Suzuki, Bipul Chandra, MD, Ducati India, SangYup Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Hyundai and Genesis Global Design Centre, among others.

Mr. Lee, in fact, was also named the Person of the Year, the first time a global design head has been given such an honour in India. SangYup Lee has been at the centre of the design revolution for cars from Hyundai Motor Company and he is responsible for the new parametric pixel, seamless horizon, and H-Design styling for Hyundai’s stable worldwide.

Siddhartha Lal, MD, Royal Enfield and Eicher, was crowned the Business Leader of the Year for ushering in a new wave of products and tech at Royal Enfield last year, all of which have had tremendous success in the Indian market.

Aravind Mani, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, River was awarded the Jagdish Khattar Rising Star Award for his contribution and vision towards creating a sustainable business.