The particular crème de la crème of European car journalists have made a shortlist for the 2023 European Car of 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 T-Ford in the market the century ago — in a moment when every well informed market observer knew that the horse was being replaced by the engine.
4×4 Avenger
Kia Niro — HEV, PHEV, plus BEV
Kia Niro BEV
Nissan Ariya
Peugeot 408ps
Renault Austral — MHEV and HEV
Renault Austral
Subaru Solterra/Toyota bZ4X — BEV
Toyota bZ4X
Volkswagen ID. Buzz
From the website of CarOfTheYear. org is the particular following quote: “In selecting the car associated with the year they use the following criteria: design, comfort, safety, economy, handling, performance, functionality, environmental requirements, driver satisfaction, plus price. Technical innovation and value for money are usually particularly important factors . ” (Bold emphasis added by this author. )
To summarize this in an easy-to-understand list, sorted by that will particularly important factor:
- Nissan Ariya — BEV
- Subaru Solterra /Toyota bZ4X — BEV
- VW IDENTIFICATION. Buzz — BEV
- Vehicle Avenger — MHEV plus BEV
- Of Niro — HEV, PHEV , and BEV
- Peugeot 408 — FFV plus 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 edition. The last two are just yesteryear’s technology. The journalists show that they think a horse-drawn buggy is a worthwhile competitor to the Ford Model-T and all the other engine-powered cars. This is over a decade after the new technology was demonstrated to be better plus even after the regulators and many OEMs themselves declared the fossil fuel burners a technology of the past, a technologies that should be abandoned as fast as possible.
Any model along with a tailpipe should become disqualified with regard to using yesterday’s technology. That would remove the Peugeot 408 and Renault Austral from the list. The particular Jeep Avenger and Kia Niro should only end up being judged on the BEV versions of the models. Using an old shared platform is not really innovative technology, it is upgraded old technology in order to bridge the time needed to develop modern technology.
That will leaves the particular Nissan Ariya, Toyota bZ4X, and VW ID. Hype as contenders using revolutionary technology.
The Toyota bZ4X is more a small series pilot project than a serious mass market product from the world’s largest carmaker. These kind of niche products through startups have been accepted as contenders in the past, but Toyota is hardly a startup, even within the fully electric vehicle market. It is just late in order to the party. In my eyes, this particular qualifies regarding a third place at best.
That leaves the Vw ID. Buzz and Nissan Ariya because serious opportunities for the European Vehicle Of The Year award chosen by 61 journalists from 23 countries. That is a very short shortlist. They should have used technical innovation as a condition to be included in the candidate.
The ID. Buzz will be long awaited by many fans of the aged hippie bus. It is usually a nostalgic product that offers good value for money. This is built on the particular MEB platform, just like a dozen other models of the Volkswagen Group. Not brand new technology, but the platform is definitely evolving and seeing improvements.
The Nissan Ariya is the first model using the particular Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi-Alliance CMF-EV platform. That makes it my first choice whenever weighting only the use of innovative technologies. There are usually eleven other criteria, though, making the competition between the ID. Hype and the particular Ariya really interesting.
The particular jurors do not award points for every condition. They each distribute their 25 points over the 7 candidates with a maximum of 10 and a minimum of 0. It is based upon their very personal opinion, and sometimes a bit on national pride.
The result of this contest will be presented in an award ceremony at the Brussels Motor Show on Friday, January 13th.
Many of these journalists are clearly out of touch with the current car marketplace in transition to fully electric driving. And it can be not the particular first time they exhibited this .
Looking at the longlist associated with candidates, it was not really from lack of good choices that this particular shortlist was filled with five undeserving applicants. There were a lot more than two great innovative new models to choose from.
- Alfa Romeo Tonale
- BAIC EU5
- BMW X1/iX1
- BMW 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
- Kia Niro
- Kia Sportage
- Land Rover Range Rover/ Land Rover Range 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 408ps
- Renault Austral
- Smart #1
- Subaru Solterra/Toyota bZ4X
- Toyota Aygo X
- Toyota Corolla Cross
- Toyota GR86
- Vinfast VF8
- Vinfast VF9
- Volkswagen ID. Buzz
- Xpeng P5
What do you believe should be the seven finalists intended for the official European Car Of The Year 2023 award?
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