For the third consecutive time, the Car of the Year (CotY) will be crowned at the Motor Show in Geneva, on the eve of the opening press days. This year, the competition looks particularly impressive with seven finalists competing from all categories and will be a tough decision for the jury to decide which is best overall. Significantly, for the first time in history, two of the seven finalists are electric cars.
The Committee of the Car of the Year, which consists of 58 automotive journalists from 22 countries, has already chosen their seven favourite vehicles from 30 new models launched in 2013. The finalists, in alphabetical order, are: BMW i3, Citroen C4 Picasso, Mazda 3, Mercedes S Class, Peugeot 308, Skoda Octavia and Tesla Model S. Each of these vehicles have a minimum sales target of 5,000 units per annum to qualify for the award.
The seven finalists are each from different segments including, small and medium sized urban and family cars and luxury cars which provided much enjoyment for this year’s jury. Technology will play a large part in the decision which should give both the i3 and Model S a significant advantage over other finalists. However, with the futuristic interior of the family oriented Citroen C4 Picasso, which packs many interesting and clever design details into a versatile package, the electric cars may have met their equal, albeit in a very different product. Likewise, teh quality standards that have been set by Mercedes’ S-Class in the luxury segment are hard to beat, as are the everyday standards set by the Skoda Octavia. However, it would be unwise to rule out the good looking new Peugeot 308 and the appealing Mazda 3.
Frank Janssen, Motoring Editor at stern and General Secretary of the Car of the Year’ jury, said:
“In 2014, we have an extraordinary mix – including premium cars, small family cars and electric cars. It’s going to be an exciting contest: value for money meets luxury and cutting-edge technology.”
This February, the jury will thoroughly test drive each model at Mortefontaine, France, to evaluate innovation, quality, value for money and design to come to an overall conclusion and winner.
The winner will be crowned on 3rd March 2014, the day before the Geneva Motor Show press days start at the Palexpo convention centre. You can watch the announcement LIVE on both the Geneva Motor Show and Car of the Year websites; www.salon-auto.ch and www.caroftheyear.org.
Source; CotY & Salon de l’Auto
