Lightning strikes twice for VW's winning Golf
Ulrich Hackenberg of VW with the Car of the Year award for the Golf.
The new seventh-generation Volkswagen Golf has been named Car of the Year 2013, well ahead of the joint-entry Toyota GT86/Subaru BR-Z, which came second. The announcement was made at a presentation event on the eve of the opening press day at the Geneva Motor Show.
It’s the second time in its history that a VW Golf has won the prestigious award, and only the second car – along with Renault Clio – to win the award more than once. The last time a VW Golf won the award was in 1992.
Of 32 new models in contention this year, the eight finalists were: Ford B-Max; Hyundai i30; Mercedes A-Class; Peugeot 208; Renault Clio; Toyota GT86/Subaru BRZ; VW Golf; and Volvo V40.
The Car of the Year jury is made up of 58 motoring journalists from 22 European countries. In the final round of voting, judges award 25 points with a maximum of 10 points to any one car. The main criteria for voting are: technical progress; design; quality; and value for money. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the prestigious prize.
Final scores
The final scores were: VW Golf – 414 points; Toyota GT86/Subaru BR-Z – 202 points; Volvo V40 – 189 points; Ford B-Max – 148 points; Mercedes A-Class – 138 points; Renault Clio – 128 points; Peugeot 208 – 120 points; and Hyundai i30 – 111 points.
Prior to voting, jury members put the cars through their paces at several independent test events. Two weeks ago the finalists were inspected and driven at the independent test facility at Mortefontaine outside Paris. The Mortefontaine facility is used by car firms and parts manufacturers during development of new models.
Hakan Matson, jury president and auto sector correspondent of Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri, said: “The Volkswagen Golf VII received amazing results in our intensive test drives. It is a modern car with a high level of quality and safety, a wide range of drive trains as well as an outstanding driving performance. The Car of the Year winner has to show excellence in a number of categories – with special attention to the needs of consumers.”
This correspondent, who is the Irish member of the Car of the Year jury, distributed his votes as follows:
VW Golf – 8 points
From an innovation point of view, the new Golf represents not only the seventh generation of a multi-million-selling model range but also showcases the VW Group’s new MQB platform format, initially launched in the Audi A3.
