The revolutionary Vauxhall Ampera and sister car, the Chevrolet Volt have been voted the 2012 European Car of the Year (COTY).
The competition was the expected battle between the Ampera and Volkswagen Up, but the audience in the foyer of the Geneva motor show, where all seven finalists were parked was surprised at the performance of the Land Rover Evoque, which came fourth ahead of the Fiat Panda, Citroen DS5 and Toyota Yaris. The scores were - Ampera: 330, a decisive win; Up: 281; Focus: 256; Evoque: 186; Panda: 156; DS5: 144 and Yaris: 122.
GM officials were delighted, especially Vauxhall’s managing director Duncan Aldred, who said the award came just in time for next week’s UK launch, and would be a “fantastic help” in taking Vauxhall’s brand image where it needed to go.
“The Ampera had to win” says jury member Steve Cropley. “I believe the technology it employs is another automotive milestone; as significant as the invention of the Mini all those years ago.
“To think it was conceived by an automotive giant, while fighting bankruptcy is amazing and needs to be recognised,” Cropley added.
Join the debate
Add your comment
Re: Ampera voted European Car of the Year
I've got to say that the Ampera/Volt is the ONLY green car I would consider owning with the exception of the Honda CRZ.
I quite like its looks, unlike the hideousness that is the Prius/Insight.
However, in order to sell, they've got to bring the price to under £25,000 before gov't grants. At the moment, £25,000 buys cars I would actually want to own, such as the Toyota GT86 (I know its not in the same segment, but you know what I mean).
Re: Ampera voted European Car of the Year
True enough, but I am surprised that they award cars which are not even on sale yet. The Ampera/Volt also won WhatCar?s Green Car of The Year last year, and as pointed out in the article, doesn't go on sale in the UK until next week.
I also love the fact that Autocar had to sneak in a paragraph about the Evoque performing better than expected from the Euro judges...
Re: Ampera voted European Car of the Year
Does anyone in the real world get swayed into believing this is the best car in Europe just because it won the award, and its not even a European car, and a starting price of over £37k its not going to sell.
Here is the problem, even if the Govt give you a £5k grant off the asking price taking it to £32k, a BMW 320D sport is £29k, add on £3k of essential extras and you have a far better car, the other problem is image, at the end of the day Vauxhall dont have one, they have a poor reputation for reliability and dealerships on the whole are pretty poor. Who in their right mind will fork out that much money on a Vauxhall just on the pretence of saving a few trees.