The official 2015 Car of the Year candidates have been named for the global award. A total of31 cars have been named on the provisional list which, again will be narrowed down by the end of the year. The final list will be issued on 1st December 2014.
All the candidates have to benew vehicleson sale now or before 2014s end in five or more European markets. Each candidate should have the prospect of selling at least 5000 units a year.
The voting process has two stages. The first one will produce a short list of seven nominees, which will be announced on15th December 2014. The second round will determine the singlewinnerthat will be revealed on the eve of the Geneva Motor Show on the2nd March 2015.
Last years Car of the Year winnerwas the Peugeot 308. The Peugeot received 307 points from the 58 Jury members, with top points from 22 jurors. Second and third, in a close race, were the two electric cars, BMW i3 (223 points) and Tesla S (216). In the group of seven Nominees, were also the Citroën C4 Picasso (182), Mazda3 (180), Skoda Octavia (172) and Mercedes S-class (170).
Whilst many of these candidates aren’t available in SA, it’s good to see what other vehicles are considered ‘highly recommended’ by our European counterparts.
Audi TT Coupe
BMW 2-Series Active Tourer
BMW 2-Series Coupe
BMW i8
BMW X4
Citroen C1
Citroen C4 Cactus
Fiat 500X
Ford EcoSport
Ford Mondeo
Hyundai i20
Infiniti Q50
Jeep Renegade
Kia Soul
Lexus NX
Lexus RC
Mercedes-Benz C-Class
Mercedes-Benz GLA
Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe
Nissan Pulsar
Nissan Qashqai
Nissan X-Trail
Opel Corsa
Peugeot 108
Porsche Macan
Renault Twingo
Skoda Fabia
Smart ForTwo
Smart ForFour
Subaru WRX STI
Suzuki Celerio
Toyota Aygo
Volkswagen Passat