At an awards ceremony at the Westin Hotel in Dublin on 7th November, the Kia e-Soul was named as the Continental Tyres Irish Car of the Year for 2020.

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

Kia took the top award with its new e-Soul model which also took two category awards on the night: Continental Tyres Irish Compact Car of the Year and Continental Tyres Irish Green / Efficient Car of the Year. As the first ever electric car to take the Irish Car of the Year title, the e-Soul was one of several full electric or hybrid models in the running for this year’s award.

Joint-Chairman of the Irish Car of the Year Committee, Anthony Conlon said: “Congratulations to the Kia team on a very worthy win, I am sure that the Irish Car of the Year title will be a huge boost for the e-Soul during the busy January car sales period.”

Joint-Chairman of the Irish Car of the Year Committee, Bob Flavin said: “”This is the first time that an electric car has won Irish Car of the Year, a real sign of things to come I think. Regardless of its fuel type, the e-Soul came out as the clear winner and was hugely popular with my motoring journalist colleagues”.

Tom Dennigan of Continental Tyres said about the awards: “The advice of the Irish Car of the Year jurors is instrumental in helping consumers here to make sense of the ever-growing complexity of the cars we drive – both from the point of view of the increased fuel options and the myriad of new safety features and technologies that are found on even the entry level models of all brands”.

The category winners:
1. Continental Tyres Irish Compact Car of the Year: Kia e-Soul
2. Continental Tyres Irish Medium Car of the Year: Toyota Corolla
3. Continental Tyres Irish Large Car of the Year: Peugeot 508
4. Continental Tyres Irish Compact SUV of the Year: Volkswagen T-Cross
5. Continental Tyres Irish Medium SUV of the Year: Audi Q3
6. Continental Tyres Irish Large SUV of the Year: SEAT Tarraco
7. Continental Tyres Irish Hot Hatchback of the Year: Ford Focus ST
8. Continental Tyres Irish Performance / Luxury Car of the Year: Alfa Romeo Stelvio QV
9. Continental Tyres Irish Green / Efficient Car of the Year: Kia e-Soul
10. Continental Tyres Irish MPV of the Year: Peugeot Rifter

Having won in each of their categories, the ten category winners were all in the running for the top honour with the judging panel of some 32 journalists electing the Kia e-Soul by a slim margin. Last year’s 2019 Irish Car of the Year award was won by the Volvo XC40.

The joint entry of Citroen Berlingo / Opel Combo Cargo / Peugeot Partner was voted as the Continental Tyres Irish Van of the Year 2020.

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.