The closing ceremony of the Driving Grand Prix in the commercial vehicle segment took place at the BW Expo 2022 trade show in Crocus City. Prizes were presented to the winners by Maxim Kadakov, editor in chief of Za Rulem magazine.
Differences between the commercial Grand Prix and the passenger car competition were clear in the makeup of the jury. This year the panel included 78 transport and operating companies, ranging from Mosgortrans to Yamaldorstroy. The carriers themselves chose the best new commercial vehicles to enter the Russian market in 2022. Despite a challenging environment, 36 new models were in contention.
Entries were organized into five categories.
1. Small and medium class buses
Leading this category was the MAZ-206045, which captured 37.5 percent of the votes.
Andrey Tkachenko, deputy general director of MAZ-Rus, accepted the award for best in the small and medium bus segment.
2. Large class buses
The voting produced a rare scenario: four nominees tied for the top spot, including MAZ-203047 and three NefAZ models. Consequently, for the first time in the Grand Prix history, two prizes were awarded in a single category.
Andrey Tkachenko, Deputy General Director of MAZ-Rus, and Samat Sattarov, Director of Passenger Transport at KAMAZ PJSC, accepted the awards for the Large Bus category.
3. Medium-duty trucks
In this division, KAMAZ-43089 Compass-12 performed exceptionally well and did not quite clinch the top spot with 41.7 percent of the vote.
The prize for the best medium-duty truck went to Samat Sattarov, director of passenger transport at KAMAZ PJSC.
4. Heavy trucks
Beiqi Foton Motor’s Foton Auman EST An 1846 AMT was recognized as the best heavy truck.
The award for the best heavy truck went to Roman Ryzhikov, deputy general manager of Foton Motor.
5. Trailers
The title Trailer of the Year went to Tonaru 97855 with 29.2 percent of the vote.
The prize in this category was presented to Dmitry Stepin, representative of the Tonar machine-building plant.
Special prizes
In addition to the main awards, editors of Za Rulem highlighted two notable milestones for Russia.
First is the appearance of the first Russian light commercial electric vehicle, the GAZelle e-NN.
Second is the birth of a new diesel engine, the KAMAZ-910.10-550, developed in collaboration with the Liebherr group.
Congratulations were extended to all participants of the Za Rulem Grand Prix for Commercial Vehicles 2022.