The crème de la crème of European car journalists have made a shortlist for the 2023 European Car associated with the Year competition, demonstrating that they are a bunch of shockingly incompetent car journalists. What they did was look at buggies to compete with the particular T-Ford in the market a century ago — in a moment when every well informed market observer knew that the horse was being replaced by the engine.
Jeep Avenger
Kia Niro BEV
Nissan Ariya
Peugeot 408
Renault Austral — MHEV and HEV
Renault Austral
Subaru Solterra/Toyota bZ4X — BEV
Toyota bZ4X
Volkswagen ID. Hype
From the website of CarOfTheYear. org is the following quote: “In selecting the car of the year these people use the following criteria: design, comfort, safety, economy, handling, performance, functionality, environmental requirements, driver satisfaction, and price. Technical innovation and value for money are particularly important factors . ” (Bold emphasis added by this author. )
To summarize this in an easy-to-understand list, sorted simply by that especially important factor:
- Nissan Ariya — BEV
- Subaru Solterra /Toyota bZ4X — BEV
- VOLKS WAGEN ID. Buzz — BEV
- Jeep Avenger — MHEV and BEV
- Kia Niro — HEV, PHEV , and BEV
- Peugeot 408ps — FFV and PHEV
- Renault Austral — MHEV and HEV
Only three can be called modern-architecture-car-technology models. Two models are based on transitional technology, with both a tailpipe version and a battery electric version. The last two are just yesteryear’s technology. The media show that they think a horse-drawn buggy is the worthwhile competitor to the Ford Model-T plus all the other engine-powered cars. This will be over a decade after the new technology has been demonstrated to be better and even after the particular regulators and many OEMs themselves declared the fossil fuel burners a technology of the past, the technology that should be abandoned as fast as possible.
Any model with a tailpipe should be disqualified for using yesterday’s technologies. That would remove the Peugeot 408 and Renault Austral from the listing. The Jeep Avenger plus Kia Niro should only be judged on the BEV versions of the versions. Using a good old shared platform is usually not really innovative technology, it is upgraded old technologies to bridge the time needed to develop modern technology.
That leaves the Nissan Ariya, Toyota bZ4X, and VW IDENTIFICATION. Buzz as contenders making use of innovative technologies.
The Toyota bZ4X is definitely more a small series pilot project than a serious mass market product from the particular world’s largest carmaker. These kind associated with niche products from startups have been accepted as contenders in the past, but Toyota can be hardly the startup, still in the fully electrical car marketplace. It is certainly just late to the particular party. In my eyes, this qualifies for a third place at best.
That leaves the Volkswagen ID. Buzz plus Nissan Ariya as serious contenders for the Western Car Of The Year award chosen by 61 press from 23 countries. That is a very short shortlist. They should have used technical development as a condition to be included in the particular shortlist.
The ID. Buzz is long awaited simply by many fans of the old hippie bus. It is the nostalgic item that offers good value for money. It is built on the MEB platform, just like a dozen other models of the Volkswagen Group. Not brand new technology, but the platform is evolving and seeing improvements.
The particular Nissan Ariya is the first model using the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi-Alliance CMF-EV platform. That makes it my first choice when weighting only the particular use of innovative technology. There are eleven other criteria, though, making the competition between the IDENTIFICATION. Buzz and the Ariya really interesting.
The jurors do not award points for every condition. They each distribute their 25 points over the 7 candidates with a maximum associated with 10 plus a minimum of 0. It is dependent on their very personal opinion, and sometimes a bit on national pride.
The result of this contest will be presented in an honor ceremony at the Brussels Motor Show upon Friday, January 13th.
Many of these journalists are clearly out of touch with the current vehicle market in transition to fully electric driving. And it is not really the first time they will demonstrated this particular .
Looking at the longlist of candidates, it had been not from lack of great choices that this shortlist was filled with five undeserving candidates. There were more than two great innovative new models to choose from.
- Alfa Romeo Tonale
- BAIC EU5
- BMW X1/iX1
- THE CAR i7
- BYD Tang
- Citroën C5 X
- Dacia Jogger
- DFSK Series 5
- Ferrari 296 GTB
- Ferrari Purosangue
- Hongqi E-HS9
- Honda Civic
- Jeep “B-SUV”
- Jeep Grand Cherokee
- Of Niro
- Kia Sportage
- Land Rover Range Rover/ Property Rover Variety Rover Sport
- Lexus RZ
- Lotus Emira
- Lucid Air
- Maserati Grecale
- Mazda CX-60
- McLaren Artura
- Mercedes-Benz GLC
- Mercedes-EQ EQE
- Mercedes-AMG SL
- MG 4 28. MG five
- Nio ES8
- Nio ET7
- Nissan Ariya
- Nissan X-Trail
- Opel/Vauxhall Astra
- Ora Cat
- Peugeot 408
- Renault Austral
- Smart #1
- Subaru Solterra/Toyota bZ4X
- Toyota Aygo X
- Toyota Corolla Cross
- Toyota GR86
- Vinfast VF8
- Vinfast VF9
- Volkswagen ID. Hype
- Xpeng P5
What do you think should be the seven finalists for the official Western european Car Of The 12 months 2023 prize?
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