St. John’s, Newfoundland – Sirius Canada Inc. and Targa Newfoundland have announced that the Sirius Satellite Radio President’s Challenge for Manufacturers will be launched at the seventh annual Targa Newfoundland. The event is a week-long road rally covering 2,000 km in the eastern portion of the province.

Manufacturers’ entries in both the Grand Touring and Targa competition will compete for the new award, which is for overall results covering all vehicle classes. The new competition is sponsored by Sirius Satellite Radio.

“We are excited to welcome Sirius Satellite Radio as the inaugural title sponsor of this new and exciting competition,” said Targa organizer Robert Giannou. “While the carmakers have frequently won class and category honours and filled their trophy cases with awards, there has never been an opportunity to compete directly with each other on a level playing field, and the Sirius Satellite Radio President’s Challenge for Manufacturers creates that opportunity.”

Since the rally’s inception in 2002, manufacturers supporting entrants in the contest have included BMW, Chrysler, Hyundai, Infiniti, Kia, Lexus, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Porsche and Subaru. This year’s event runs September 13 to 19, starting and finishing in St. John’s.