It's official, Fiat's baby Panda car has won the prestigious European Car of the Year award 2004. The Panda's success was decisive too, and it had a generous 40 point margin over nearest rivals, the Mazda3 and Volkswagen Golf which tied for second place.
The Toyota Avensis took third place, followed by the Opel Meriva, BMW 5 series and Nissan Micra.
The Panda's win was a badly-kept secret. Even though the announcement had been embargoed until yesterday, a leaked story revealed the winner's identity seven days earlier.
The result, however, will be seen as giving troubled Fiat a huge morale boost. It was the cheapest, most affordable offering in the short list of seven cars voted on by the international jury of 58 full-time motoring journalists from 22 countries as far apart as Turkey and Ireland, Spain and Russia.
For the journalist jurors, affordability and value-for-money are key elements in the voting criteria that also includes safety, economy, handling, performance and driver satisfaction. With the exception of the BMW 5-series, the six other short-listed cars were popular models in high-volume segments.
Each of the 58 jury members had 25 points to allocate, with no more than 10 going to any particular car.
The Panda scored 281 points with the joint runners-up, the Mazda3 and Volkswagen Golf, getting 241 each. Thereafter it was the Toyota Avensis with 219, the Opel Meriva 213, the BMW 5-series 144 and the Nissan Micra 111.
Some critics of the European award, now in its 41st year, have claimed that journalists from car manufacturing countries can be chauvinistic, favouring too much their own's country product. There wasn't a French car this time to test the supposedly chauvinistic French but the six Italian journalists weren't in total ecstasy about the Panda which is actually manufactured in Poland. One gave it top marks of 10, another nine and yet another eight. But three gave it lower scores, two awarding four points and one three.
Similarly in Germany, there wasn't total enthusiasm for the 5-series. Its best score was five out of 10 points with three jurors, while one gave it no points at all.
What then of the winner, the runners-up and the also-rans? The Panda has to be a worthy victor if only because of solid virtues like a low starting price and cheap running costs. (On the Irish market, the Panda is from just under €11,000 on-the-road). But it also appealed for its overall refinement and comfort, being worlds apart from the utilitarian predecessor of the same name that was on the go for 22 years.
The Panda vote was also strengthened by the 1.3 litre Multijet diesel version which remarkably delivers 70 bhp, and more importantly gives 65.7 mpg as a Euro-average figure. The most powerful and yet frugal of the engine line-up, it complements 1.1 and 1.2 petrol engines with 54 and 60 bhp.
Mazda's 6 was runner-up to the Renault Megane in the European award 2003 and now the 3 is in the same runner-up position this time, except it shares the slot with the VW Golf. With cabin and suspension layouts that are based closely on that of the best-selling 6 and a distinctly sporty character, it was hardly surprising that this successor to the worthy-but-dull 323 would feature near the top.
The Golf did better than expected, considering its external conservatism. It's a sportier drive now, enormously refined on the road, and bigger dimensions have meant more interior space. It may not have profoundly changed our notion of the archetypal small car but it's always likely to be a winner for VW. The previous four generations have made it the world's best-selling car, with cumulative sales of over 22 million. The Golf has only won the European title once, in 1992.
Toyota must be disappointed that the Avensis didn't get a stronger showing. The Japanese giant had given the car a stronger upmarket identity, especially in the realms of driving behaviour and safety. The D-Cat-D diesel version was also promoted as the world's cleanest and greenest diesel production car.
The Opel Meriva was probably never going to make it to the top. All its cleverness was really in the internal packaging, giving endless seating and loading permutations.
The BMW 5-series may be highly innovative with features like Active Steering, but some jury members are shy about favouring high-powered prestige cars that carry expensive price tags in certain European markets, such as Ireland.
Nissan's funky-looking Micra trailed in at the end, seventh out of seven. The radical appearance and surprisingly bigger interior weren't enough to give it a winning way. The previous Micra made history being the first Japanese car to win the European award in 1993.
The Fiat Auto group has enjoyed no fewer than 10 wins in the award's 40-year history, and this will be the eleventh. Previous Fiat winners have been the 124 (1967), 128 (1970), 127 (1972), Uno (1984), Tipo (1989), Punto (1995) and Bravo/Brava (1996). From the Lancia and Alfa Romeo subsidiaries, there were the Delta (1980), the 156 (1998) and the 147 (2001).
It has to be said that not all the aforementioned enjoyed huge commercial success, but Fiat believes that taking the 2004 title is recognition of its prowess at building interesting small cars. Maybe too, it is a welcome omen of better times ahead.
• Andrew Hamilton has represented Ireland on the European Car of the Year jury since 1980. For the 2004 award, he gave 8 points to the Toyota Avensis, 6 to the Mazda3, 5 to the Fiat Panda, 3 to the Opel Meriva, 2 to the Volkswagen Golf and 1 to the Nissan Micra.
The Avensis was favoured most, for "impressive stability and precision" in driving while the innovative knee airbag "enhanced good safety characteristics." He found the winning Panda "delightful for its nimble agility".