D-day for Car of the Year hopefuls
by Joanne Ahern • November 22, 2012 • Motoring News
Eleven cars battle it out today to see which will scoop the prestigious Continental Irish Car of the Year title.
Current title-holder Kia has two cars in the running for this year’s top prize, but German car-maker BMW has taken the most spots in this year’s short list, with three of its models in contention.
Members of the Irish Motoring Writers Association selected the final 11, from a longlist of 35.
Deciding factors included style, value for money, performance and engineering.
Five category titles are also up for grabs, including the hotly contested Irish Family Compact Family Car of the Year category.
Speaking ahead of this year’s awards, Paddy Murphy of Continental Tyres Ireland said: ‘In spite of the weak car market in Ireland, this year’s shortlist includes a nice mix of interesting and exciting new concepts and revisions of old nameplates.’
This year’s winners will be announced at a ceremony at the Convention Centre in Dublin today. The Kia Rio was last year’s overall winner.
The contenders for each category are as follows:
Continental Irish Small Car of the Year
Ford B-MAX
Peugeot 208
Continental Irish Compact Family Car of the Year
Kia cee’d
Mazda CX-5
Volvo V40
Continental Irish Family Car of the Year
BMW 3-Series
Kia Optima
Continental Irish Executive / Luxury Car of the Year
BMW 6 Series Gran Coupé
Mercedes-Benz M-Class
Continental Irish Performance Car of the Year
BMW M5
Toyota GT86