With a total of 281 points, the new Peugeot 208 has been crowned the 2020 Car of the Year.
Attached below is a snippet from the press release published on the Car of the Year official website:
"The small Peugeot, which offers a full-electric version, collected 281 points and 17 individual top votes. With 242 points and the same number of best votes, the electric car Tesla Model 3 was second, while the last place in the podium was also for an EV, the Porsche Taycan, with 222 points. The rest of the finalists for the award were the Renault Clio (211 points), Ford Puma (209), Toyota Corolla (152) and BMW 1-series (133)."
The 90th Geneva Motor Show was supposed to kick off today with the ceremony to announce the winner of the Car of the Year award, ahead of the auto show's first press day originally scheduled for March 3. But while GIMS has been canceled after Swiss authorities banned public gatherings of more than 1,000 people until at least March 15, the event where the COTY 2020 winner will be revealed is still happening.
Originally, the initial list published in October 2019 had the following 35 candidates:
- Audi E-Tron
- BMW 1 Series
- BMW Z4
- BMW X6
- BMW X7
- DS 3 Crossback
- Ford Puma
- Kia e-Soul
- Mazda 3
- Mazda CX-30
- Mercedes-Benz CLA
- Mercedes-Benz EQC
- Nissan Juke
- Opel Corsa
- Peugeot 208
- Porsche 911
- Porsche Taycan
- Range Rover Evoque
- Renault Captur
- Renault Clio
- Renault Zoe
- Skoda Kamiq
- Skoda Scala
- Subaru Forester
- Tesla Model 3
- Toyota Camry
- Toyota Corolla
- Toyota RAV4
- Toyota GR Supra
- Volkswagen T-Cross
On November 25, the short list was published and included the following seven nominees:
- BMW 1-Series
- Ford Puma
- Peugeot 208
- Porsche Taycan
- Renault Clio
- Tesla Model 3
- Toyota Corolla
To be considered for the Car of the Year award, all candidates have to be new vehicles that are on sale now or before the year's end in at least five European markets. The COTY jury is composed of 60 journalists from a total of 23 European countries, including Germany (Auto motor und Sport), U.K. (Autocar, Auto Express, Car Magazine, Top Gear), Spain (Autopista), Italy (Quattroroute), and France (L'Automobile Magazine, L'Argus de l'automobile). For the full list, see the Jury section on the official website.
The livestream will start at 2 PM GMT / 9 AM EST. The winner will be announced between two EVs (Porsche Taycan, Tesla Model 3), two superminis (Peugeot 208, Renault Clio), two compact cars – one mainstream and the other premium - Toyota Corolla and BMW 1 Series, and a crossover as the Ford Puma is surprisingly the only high-riding vehicle to make it among the finalists.
