The brand, which is yet to celebrate its first birthday on local soil, was selected as a finalist in the 2024 South African Car of the Year (COTY) competition. The OMODA C5 will compete in the Compact Family category.
“We are thrilled with the announcement that the OMODA C5 is a Car of the Year finalist. It gives us as a very young brand the opportunity to show South Africans what many journalists and customers have already found out: that the OMODA brand offers a full house of features, performance and design at a very competitive price,” says Shannon Gahagan, National Brand and Marketing Manager OMODA & JAECOO.
The SA Guild of Mobility Journalists’ decision to pick the OMODA C5 in the Compact Family category supports Gahagan’s statement.
The OMODA C5 is available from R447 900 and offers significantly more performance from its 115-kW turbo-petrol engine than other contenders in the category. It is also unique in its offer of a full digital cabin with dual 10.25” screens, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and Intelligent Voice Commands across the range.
“The OMODA brand was created from a clean sheet, giving the designers and engineers free reign to create a vehicle with no comparison. This is not only true for its unique design – created from our design language of Art in Motion – but also in our decision to include a host of luxury and safety features, across the entire range, regardless of the price,” says Gahagan.
This decision by OMODA to start from a clean slate and offer unmatched luxuries, performance and design features have surely informed the SA Guild’s decision to pick the OMODA C5 for the SA COTY competition.
For instance, every OMODA, regardless of price, has six airbags, ABS, and electronic stability control (ESP) and standard features such as dual-zone climate control, sport seats, wireless charging and passive-entry-passive-start (PEPS).
The clean slate approach also applies to the mechanical structure and engine of the OMODA C5. The OMODA T1X-platform uses ultra-high tensile steel to create a rigid platform and safety cell. This has earned the OMODA C5 a full five-star safety rating in Europe (Euro NCAP) and Asia (ASIAN and Australian NCAP) and gives it a surefooted on-road performance that is also unmatched it the Compact Family category.
The OMODA C5 is no stranger to competitions such as the SA Guild of Motoring Journalists Car of the Year competition. The model was picked as the 2022 Most Technologically Advanced SUV in Qatar and was selected as Mexico’s Car of the Year and Best Midsized Crossover as selected by Auto show.
While the OMODA C5 has been selected as a SA COTY finalist, it is only one of the models on offer by OMODA South Africa. The brand has recently added a high-performance OMODA C5 GT to the range and it has confirmed that the luxury flagship OMODA C9 and the all-electric OMODA E5 are slated for local introduction in 2024.
As a brand that is less than a year old in the country, the reception to the OMODA vehicles has been well received by South Africans.
