The Irish Car of the Year Awards in association with Continental Tyres took place on November 8th, at the Gibson Hotel, Dublin.

Motoring journalists from print, online and broadcasting hosted a gala black tie event attended by Ireland’s leading car brands, importers, distributors and other motoring dignitaries.

Volvo took the top award with the XC40, which was also named as the Irish Compact Crossover of the Year category winner.

ICOTY Committee member Bob Flavin said: “Congratulations to the Volvo XC40 for winning through from a field of some 48 new models launched this year on the Irish market.”

ICOTY Committee member Mark Gallivan said: “What a wonderful array of cars we had in this year’s competition, it was a very tight race and the XC40 is a very worthy winner.”

Tom Dennigan of Continental Tyres said about the awards: “The choices of the Irish Car of the Year jury provide a great helping hand to Irish consumers in navigating their way through the bewildering array of high tech vehicles that are launched in Ireland each year and in this regard, Continental is delighted to be associated with the Irish Car of the Year awards.”

The category winners:

Ford Focus – Irish Small / Compact Car of the Year 2019

SEAT Arona – Irish Small Crossover of the Year 2019

Volvo XC40 – Irish Compact Crossover of the Year 2019

Skoda Karoq – Irish Medium Crossover of the Year 2019

Volkswagen Touareg – Irish Large Crossover of the Year 2019

Mercedes Benz CLS – Irish Executive / Premium Car of the Year 2019

Ford Fiesta ST – Irish Hot Hatchback of the Year 2019

BMW M5 – Irish Performance Car of the Year 2019

Nissan Leaf – Irish Green / Efficient Car of the Year 2018

Nissan Leaf E Pedal – Irish Car of the Year Innovation Award 2019

Apart from the Innovation category award winner, the nine other category winners were all in the running for the top honour with the judging panel of 33 journalists electing the Volvo XC40 by a slim margin.

The Mercedes Benz Sprinter was voted Irish Van of the Year 2019.

The 2018 Irish Car of the Year award was won by the Peugeot 3008.