The Irish Car of the Year Awards in association with Continental Tyres recently took place 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.

Peugeot took the top award with its 3008 model which was also named as Irish Compact Crossover of the Year category winner.

ICOTY Committee member Michael Sheridan said: “What an achievement for the Peugeot 3008 to come out on top from a field of some 60 new models launched this year on the Irish market.”

ICOTY Committee member David Walshe said: “It was a very tight competition this year with many, many fine vehicles in the running for the Irish Car of the Year accolade, congratulations to a worthy winner.”

Tom Dennigan of Continental Tyres said about the awards: “The choices of the Irish Car of the Year jury are a great help in informing Irish consumers as to the bewildering array of high tech vehicles that are launched in Ireland each year. Continental is delighted to be associated with the Irish Car of the Year awards.”

The category winners:

Kia Picanto – Irish City Car of the Year 2018

Nissan Micra – Irish Small Car of the Year 2018

Honda Civic – Irish Compact Car of the Year 2018

Alfa Romeo Giulia – Irish Medium Car of the Year 2018

BMW 5 Series – Irish Executive / Premium Car of the Year 2018

Peugeot 3008 – Irish Compact Crossover of the Year 2018

Skoda Kodiaq – Irish Large Crossover of the Year 2018

Toyota Prius PHEV – Irish Green / Efficient Car of the Year 2018

Alfa Romeo Giulia QF – Irish Performance / Sports Car of the Year 2018

New for this year’s awards programme, the Irish Car of the Year Committee introduced an award designed to recognise outstanding innovation, the Irish Car of the Year Innovation award. The Irish Car of the Year Committee explained that the aim of the award is to highlight the many innovative technologies and systems that car makers are integrating in new models. Many of these innovations are helping to improve road safety and are making cars more intelligent as the dawn of autonomous driving comes ever closer.  The winner of the inaugural Irish Car of the Year Innovation Award for 2018 is the Honda Civic Sensing Suite of Safety Features.

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 some 30 journalists electing the Peugeot 3008 by a very tight margin.