Electric Cars Dominate European CoTY Nominees 

The shortlist for the 2025 European Car of the Year has been announced. And a lot of the nominees are electric and small. These include the Alfa Romeo Junior,  the Citroen e-C3, the Hyundai Inster and Renault 5.

Other vehicles on the short list include the Cupra Terramar, Dacia Duster and Kia EV3. The Junior is a small SUV that is offered in both hybrid and electric form, and is related to the 2023 COTY winner, the Jeep Avenger.

The current Euro COTY is the Renault Scenic. Both the Cupra and Duster represent the ICE brigade, the Terramar offered with a mild-hybrid driveline. None of these models is yet available in NZ, and some will never be offered here.

The winner will be announced on January 10 next year at the Brussels Motor Show. The Euro COTY is voted on by 60 judges from 23 countries while the shortlist has been whittled down from 42 eligible cars.

Meanwhile, long-running Australian magazine, Wheels, has announced it will crown its latest Car of the Year midway through December. 

It has 25 cars in the running and half of those are electric vehicles. These include the MG Cyberster and MG4, the Kia EV5, Volvo’s EX30, Tesla Model 3 and Ioniq 5 N, among a bunch of others. However, Wheels has elected to place the Ford Mustang Dark Horse near the front in its big group shot. 

Wheels claims that its COTY is the longest running annual car award in the world.