Over 30 contenders whittled down to just seven
The European Car of the Year finalists have been announced for 2017.
The winner of the annual award will be chosen by a panel of 58 motoring journalist judges, who come from 22 different European countries. In the first round, over 30 contenders were whittled down to just seven cars – all of which are in contention for being crowned European Car of the Year 2017.
Volvo could win the award for the first time ever © Copyright Thomas Nugent and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
Only new models that have been released during the 12 months prior to the award are eligible. The judges take into account a number of factors when deciding the winner such as safety, performance, design, handling, comfort, driver satisfaction and price.
The seven vehicles in the running for the prestigious annual award consists of a mixture of superminis, sedans and SUVs.
The 2017 finalists:
Alfa Romeo Giulia
Citroen C3
Mercedes-Benz E-Class
Nissan Micra
Peugeot 3008
Toyota C-HR
Volvo S90/V90
Although the award is for European Car of the Year, the competition isn’t just for cars that have been made in Europe. If a car is sold in over five European countries and expects to sell around 5,000 a year, then it too is eligible for the award.
Out of the seven cars that have made it onto the shortlist, Volvo are the only manufacturers to have never won the coveted title before, so a win for the Swedish company would be most welcome.
Only two of the shortlisted cars are not from a European country, one of which is the new Nissan Micra, which is set to replace the old model Micra and the mini-MPV, the Nissan Note.
The annual award was established in 1964 and the first two winners of the award were cars produced here in the UK – the Rover 2000 saloon (1964) and the Austin 1800 (1965.)
Three makes of car have managed to win the award more than once: the Renault Clio (1991 and 2006), the Volkswagen Golf (1992 and 2013) and the Opel/Vauxhall Astra, which won back in 1985 and again last year (2016.) The first electric powered car to win the prestigious award was the Nissan Leaf in 2011.
The overall winner will be announced on the 6th March 2017 at the Geneva Motor Show.
Previous European Car of the Year Winners:
Vauxhall/Opel Astra – 2016
Volkswagen Passat – 2015
Peugeot 308 – 2014
Volkswagen Golf – 2013
Vauxhall/Opel Ampera – 2012
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