The European Car of the Year (COTY) finalists for 2025 have just been announced, with the jurors narrowing the list to only seven models, and most of them are crossovers.
The 60 jurors from 23 European countries had to trim the list from 42 to 7 models, which were chosen after testing each vehicle and awarding it a different number of points. But what are the big finalists? In alphabetical order, these are the Alfa Romeo Junior, Citroen C3/e-C3, Cupra Terramar, Dacia Duster, Hyundai Inster, Kia EV3, and Renault 5/Alpine A290, with the latter two being considered the same model.
It will be a while until the jurors rest, as they now have to test the finalists further and choose which of them deserves to walk home with the 2025 European Car of the Year award. All models mentioned above will meet each other at the Mettet Test facility in Belgium over the next eight weeks, and each juror will have the opportunity to jump behind the wheel of all these vehicles, casting their final vote that will eventually pick the big winner.
Photo: ECOTY
According to the regulations, the jurors can distribute 25 points each, which are limited to 10 points per vehicle. They also have to vote at least five rides of the seven finalists. The big winner of the 2025 European Car of the Year award will be announced at the Brussels International Motor Show in Belgium on January 10, and we suspect it will be a crossover. After all, high riders dominate the list of finalists, and most of them have BEV firepower.
Before calling it a story and proceeding to the next one, we will remind you that the 2024 European Car of the Year award went to the Renault Scenic, which beat the BMW 5 Series, BYD Seal, Kia EV9, Peugeot 3008, Toyota C-HR, and Volvo EX30 in the big final. The Scenic received 329 points in total. The 5er and 3008, which completed the podium, had 308 and 197 points, respectively. One hundred ninety points went to the EV9, 168 to the EX30, 131 to the BYD Seal, and 127 to the C-HR.
So, which of the current nominees do you think deserves the prestigious award? Is it Alfa Romeo's tiniest vehicle on sale, the Junior, which used to be called the Milano? The Cupra Terramar? The modest Hyundai Inster? The Renault 5 / Alpine A290 duo? Citroen's C3/e-C3? The new Dacia Duster that did not impress Euro NCAP? Or the Kia EV3? Honestly, neither of these deserves the award, this writer thinks, as there are far better alternatives out there. However, if I had to pick one, it would certainly be the Cupra Terramar. But which one deserves to win, in your opinion?
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
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