Customer Service Lines Open Mon-Fri 9am-6pm
Closed Saturday & Sunday & Bank Holidays
For the third consecutive year, the Car of the Year will take place at the Geneva International Motor Show that is due to start next month on March the 6th and run to March the 16th. The Car of the Year announcement is planned to take place before the Motor Show opens.
Last year, the seventh generation Volkswagen Golf took the Car of the Year award with 414 points. Following behind was the Toyota GT86/Subaru BR-Z with 202 points and the Volvo V40 with 189 points.
In the last 38 years, every generation of the Golf has come in the top three of the finalists being well liked for it's balance, safety, fuel efficiency, dynamics and comfort. Surprisingly this year the Golf is not a contender as the electric car market that has recently expanded brings strong competition.
The 2014 Car of the Year decision
From 22 countries, 58 journalists have chosen their favourite seven from the 30 new models launched on the market throughout 2013 or before the year's end which have or have the prospect of at least a minimum of 5,000 units sold per year. For the first time ever, two of the finalists are electric vehicles.
The finalists have been selected from the key segments of urban car, family vehicle and luxurious autos. The competition looks set to be a close one as all the models chosen have high levels of comfort, value for money and leading edge technology.
The decision will be made around mid-February, with the 'jury' having the opportunity to test each model extensively. These tests will take place at the Automobile Research and Test Centre at Mortefontaine in France. From these tests they will value each model against the criteria of comfort, value for money and design.
The seven 2014 Car of the Year contenders
The car models chosen to enter the final short list were the Mazda 3, Mercedes S-Class, Citroen C4 Picasso, Skoda Octavia, Tesla Model S, BMW i3 and the Peugeot 308.
Final votes will take place on March 3rd at the Congress Centre at Palexpo during the opening of Press Days. Only journalists accredited by the Motor Show organisers or exhibitors will be able to attend. Over 1,000 journalists are predicted to be attending on March 4th and 5th, providing the opportunity for manufacturers to showcase over 100 new models and concepts, development plans and corporate strategies. All these will be held through around 65 press conferences making it likely to be a very busy time for everyone involved.
So which model do you think should win the Car of the Year 2014 title?, could it be any of the named brands above, or potentially could there be an underdog such as Jeep or Fiat amongst others that could potentially take the title ?.
