AWARDS

Following closely on the heels of the Isuzu D-MAX's recognition as Australia’s ‘Best Value 4X4 UTE,’ the Isuzu MU-X now claims its own spotlight, being crowned the winner of the 'Best Value 4X4 SUV' award by Wheels Magazine.

The Isuzu MU-X was evaluated against market-relevant criteria over a three-year ownership period. Wheels Magazine identified the Isuzu MU-X LS-M as the clear winner against key criteria such as insurance premiums, servicing costs, fuel expenses and depreciation.

Andy Enright, Wheels Editor, praised the MU-X's outstanding performance across all metrics, particularly its exceptional resale value, which surpassed all competitors by a significant margin. The MU-X, with its spacious interior, advanced safety systems, and off-road capabilities, emerged as the standout choice in the competitive SUV segment.

The Isuzu D-MAX has been crowned Wheels 'Best Value 4x4 UTE', marking another award for Isuzu UTE Australia (IUA). This recognition further solidifies IUA's standing as a growing leader in the automotive industry in Australia, showcasing its commitment to delivering outstanding value, reliability, and customer satisfaction.

The Isuzu D-MAX's victory in the 'Best Value 4x4 UTE' category highlights its exceptional capabilities both on and off the road. Wheels Magazine delved beyond the surface, analysing various factors including purchase price, insurance premiums, servicing costs, fuel expenses and resale value. The D-MAX SX Crew Cab 4x4 Ute 1.9-litre emerged as the top performer, applauded for its exceptional resale value, fuel efficiency and low insurance premiums.

Even the more powerful 3.0-litre variant of the D-MAX SX Crew Cab 4x4 Ute secured second place, demonstrating excellent overall value despite slightly higher running costs. The Isuzu D-MAX remains a top choice for consumers seeking reliability, affordability, and performance in a 4x4 ute.

For the second-consecutive year in a row, Isuzu UTE Australia (IUA) has been awarded the 'Car Manufacturer of the Year' title, at the 2021 Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards, besting close to 50 Australian automotive brands to the top step and marking the third time IUA has won the prestigious award; winning it in 2018, 2020, and 2021.

Congratulating IUA on its repeat category win, Roy Morgan's CEO, Michele Levine said that, “Isuzu UTE has won its third Annual Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Award as the Car Manufacturer of the Year. For the first time Isuzu UTE has now completed back-to-back victories in the category after also winning the award in 2020 and before that in 2018." 

Revered as one of Australia's largest independent research companies with over 75 years of experience in collecting objective and independent information from Australians, Roy Morgan's customer survey research interviews over 60,000 consumers each year. That research data is then analysed on an ongoing monthly basis, and compiled in a report to recognise and report on each brand across each of the 37 categories. 

Once tallied up, Roy Morgan's research indicated that IUA charted as the top automotive brand in its segment across the first six months of 2021, finishing the year with an overall Customer Satisfaction rating of 96.1%, improving on its results from the previous year.

The Isuzu D-MAX Ute and MU-X SUV continue to impress, with one of Australia's most-respected and recognised comparison websites, Canstar Blue, awarding Isuzu UTE Australia (IUA) the 2021 Canstar Blue Customer Satisfaction Award for New Cars.

Impressively, Isuzu UTE was the only Automotive brand in Australia to be awarded perfect scores across all seven Canstar Blue categories; Overall Customer Satisfaction, Reliability, Value for Money, Driving Experience, After Sales Service, Point of Sale Service, and Car Servicing. 

Leading the 2021 Canstar Blue automotive accolades was Canstar Journalist, Dean Heckscher, who objectively reported on each of the automotive brand entries, and remarked that, “Isuzu was the one to beat in Canstar Blue’s latest overall new car ratings, scoring five stars in all categories, giving it the inside lane on competitors in a crowded Australian market."

Both the Isuzu D-MAX and MU-X have been awarded top-honours in the annual OzRoamer 4WD and SUV Car of the Year Awards, with the D-MAX winning the '2022 4WD Dual Cab Ute under $65,000 Award' and the MU-X winning the 'OzRoamer 2022 4WD $45,000 – $65,000 COTY Award'.

Widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive and market relevant automotive award programs in Australia, the OzRoamer Car of the Year Awards has always taken a consumer-centric approach when analysing and reviewing each contender—focusing on a set of criteria that would aid consumers to make an informed purchasing decision. 

Now in its tenth year of running, the 2022 OzRoamer Car of the Year Awards tested a total of eighty 4WD and SUV contenders, with the top-three from each of the twelve award categories progressing to the final round of testing. 

For the second year in succession, the Isuzu D-MAX has been crowned the 'Best Dual-Cab Ute' of the year, after being awarded joint winner of the '2022 Drive Car of the Year – Dual-Cab Ute' award. 

This back-to-back victory comes just 18-months since the local Australian debut of the D-MAX in September 2020. In that time, the D-MAX impressed and earned admiration from numerous automotive publications; winning an assortment of 2021 Car of the Year silverware from the likes of Drive, NewsCorp Australia, and The West Australian — all before the D-MAX was awarded top honours again from Drive in 2022.

The joint champions were awarded the win for excelling in more key areas across a broader range than all the other dual-cab utes on test and for "their long standard equipment lists and impressive levels of advanced safety," commended Joshua Dowling, Drive National Motoring Editor and Drive Car of the Year Judge.

"No other utes in this segment have as much standard equipment – in their respective price points," continued Dowling.

With 2020 marking many milestones for Isuzu UTE Australia, the good news is only amplified with the results from the recent Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards, where the brand has not only taken out the 2020 Car Manufacturer of the Year Award, but has solidified their place as the ‘Best of the Best’.

Validating Isuzu UTE’s commitment to reliability and customer service, the latest Roy Morgan reports placed the brand as the leading automotive brand for customer satisfaction—achieving an overall Customer Satisfaction score of 94.9% across the 12 months. This not only places IUA as the leading automotive brand across the year, but declares it the winner of the ‘Best of the Best’ Award for 2020—achieving the highest customer satisfaction of all 40 winners.

As Australia’s largest independent research company, Roy Morgan has over 75 years’ experience in collecting objective and independent information from consumers and sets the standard for market research in Australia and around the world. It therefore comes as no surprise that their Customer Satisfaction Awards are held in high regards for brands all over the country.

The Isuzu D-MAX X-TERRAIN has been crowned the 'Best Dual Cab Ute of 2021', after winning the coveted '2021 Drive Car of the Year – Dual Cab Ute' award for the first time. 

Just months after its local debut in September 2020, the Isuzu D-MAX rose to the top of the segment ahead of the competition, relegating finalist rivals the Mazda BT-50 and Ford Ranger, to second and third respectively.  

Drive National Motoring Editor and Drive Car of the Year (DCOTY) Judge, Joshua Dowling praised the Isuzu D-MAX for bringing new technology to the segment, standardising advanced safety across all variants.

"The Isuzu D-MAX is the most technically advanced ute on sale in Australia today, with every available piece of safety technology fitted as standard across the range. Isuzu deserves kudos for that decision alone."

Reflective of the best-cars available to Australian motorists, News Corp Australia’s Motoring section has recently awarded the All-New Isuzu D-MAX as their ‘2020 Ute of the Year’, as part of the newspaper group’s annual ‘Car of the Year Awards’.

For the last 24 years, the annual ‘Car of the Year Awards’ has evaluated the latest vehicles introduced to Australian roads; pitting these combatants against their segment rivals in one of seven categories, from ‘Best Ute’ to ‘Best Performance car’ and everything in between. 

For 2020, the Judges awarded the Isuzu D-MAX the title of ‘Best Ute’, with News Corp’s National Motoring Editor, Richard Blackburn praising the D-MAX as “the new benchmark in the 4WD ute class, thanks to its class-leading safety and excellent value for money.” 

For the first time ever, the Isuzu D-MAX has jointly-won the top-accolade in the west, crowned as the ‘West Australian 2020 Ute of the Year’, as part of the newspaper’s annual ‘Car of the Year Awards’.

Sharing the win with the new Mazda BT-50 due to being based on the same platform as the All-New D-MAX, West Australian Motoring Editor, Sam Jeremic was impressed with the D-MAX, praising it as the “new benchmark of the [ute] segment,” referring to the standardised levels of safety equipment across all D-MAX models.

“We [the Judges] were impressed by the segment leading – and segment changing – safety technology and improvements in refinement, while still maintaining the toughness and capability which ute buyers find non-negotiable.”