Filed under:
Europe,
Ford,
Hyundai,
Mercedes-Benz,
Subaru,
Toyota,
Volkswagen,
Volvo,
Renault,
Peugeot
Electric cars may have won the
European Car of the Year award two years in a row now (
Opel Ampera in 2012, and
Nissan Leaf in 2011), we can say without reservation that the 2013
ECotY will be a petrol-burning, internal combustionizer. That's because not a single electric vehicle made it to the contest's final round. But eight other cars did.
At the top of the alphabetical list is Ford's
Fiesta-based,
B-Max MPV. Five doors, good ride and fuel-efficient, award-winning engine choices are some of the reasons it makes the list. Next is the
Hyundai i30, known as the
Elantra GT Stateside, with either five or three doors, a roomy cabin and a 1.6-liter CRDi engine. The nominating committee commends the handsome hatch for improved exterior aesthetics and a multilink suspension that "shows in ride and handling."
Mercedes gets the next spot with its hot hatch: the turbocharged
A-Class, followed by another hatch, the
Peugeot 208. The next finalist is from another marque we haven't seen in the States for quite some time - the fourth-generation Renault
Clio, followed by the
Subaru/
Toyota dynamic duo of
BRZ and the
GT86. The last two contenders are the all-new
Volkswagen Golf and the svelte
Volvo V40.
The European Car of the Year will be announced in early March after the jury has tallied its votes.
European Car of the Year finalists announced originally appeared on
Autoblog on Thu, 20 Dec 2012 10:01:00 EST. Please see our
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Autoblog
12-20-2012 11:01 AM