Why the two best cars starred in the Car of the Year

I won’t lie to you, reader. The Car of the Year announcement can sometimes be a straightforward affair.

Not this year. The voting swung this way and that and, near the end, I thought there might be an almighty clanger as Car of the Year overlooked some landmark cars.

But as the final votes were revealed, country by country, slightly Eurovision-style, parity was restored, the UK jurors’ votes were announced last, and then, surprise: two cars were tied in first place.

It was a result unprecedented in Car of the Year’s 55-year history. Which, given some 60 jurors from 23 European countries have 25 points each to distribute across the seven shortlisted cars – meaning there are 1500 points for grabs in total – is not surprising.

And the good news: it was, by my reckoning, the two standout cars in the field, the Alpine A110 and the Jaguar I-Pace, on stage with one hand each on the trophy.

So it went to a tie-break: how many jurors put the Alpine first, versus how many put the Jaguar first. The Jaguar took it 18-16.

No complaints here. I’d had my preference the other way around, but put the Jaguar and Alpine streets ahead of the rest (Citroën C5 Aircross, Ford Focus, Kia Ceed, Mercedes-Benz A-Class and Peugeot 508).

Car of the Year considers technical innovation and value for money of primary importance, and sometimes the award errs towards the latter.

But not this year: the two cars that offer something genuinely class-leading and break new ground in their respective classes were top of the pile. Spot on.

Matt Prior

Title: Editor-at-large

Matt is Autocar’s lead features writer and presenter, is the main face of Autocar’s YouTube channel, presents the My Week In Cars podcast and has written his weekly column, Tester’s Notes, since 2013.

Matt is an automotive engineer who has been writing and talking about cars since 1997. He joined Autocar in 2005 as deputy road test editor, prior to which he was road test editor and world rally editor for Channel 4’s automotive website, 4Car.

Into all things engineering and automotive from any era, Matt is as comfortable regularly contributing to sibling titles Move Electric and Classic & Sports Car as he is writing for Autocar. He has a racing licence, and some malfunctioning classic cars and motorbikes.

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