It's that time of the year again when the prestigious Car of the Year awards get up and running. Some 28 cars have gone into the preliminary voting list, from minis such as the Toyota Aygo to mighty cars such as the Mercedes S-class.
For this prestigious European award, voting is by 58 motoring journalists from 22 countries including Ireland. From the list of 28, they will now pick a short list of seven and, in the final vote, distribute 25 points among them. The winner will be announced on November 14 next.
Some cars thought to have been potential candidates are not in the list of 28: one is the new Fiat Punto, presented last week in Turin - eligibility depends on being on sale in five European countries before December 1 next. But the Fiat stable has other runners. There's the new Croma and, from Alfa Romeo, the 159, successor to the 156, where the emphasis is on quality and reliability as much as enhanced performance. The 156 was a previous winner of the title.
The current 2005 European Car of the Year is the innovative Toyota Prius with both petrol and electric motors. It was a runaway winner because of its environmental appeal, reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.
Sadly, despite wildly escalating oil prices, there's no similar green-and-clean candidate this year: Toyota will be hoping for a repeat win with its second generation Yaris - the first Yaris took the title six years ago.
The new Yaris and other small cars such as the next Renault Clio and the Suzuki Swift have not yet been seen by Irish customers. About to make its debut here is the Toyota Aygo city car, identical in engineering and styling to the Citroën C1 and Peugeot 107, all three being built at a new joint venture plant in the Czech Republic.
What if this three-in-one combination should win? It would be an unique event in the history of the award, one ceremony honouring a Japanese and two French car-makers.
It's more than likely that the trhree cars will go into the short-listed seven, but as one entry, not three.
Front runners for the short list are also likely to be the Alfa 159, the Mazda 5, the Opel/Vauxhall Zafira, the Renault Clio, the Suzuki Swift, the Toyota Yaris and the Volkswagen Passat.
The European Car of the Year jury has traditionally favoured smaller more affordable cars. This may mean that some elegant products such as the Mercedes S-class, the Porsche Cayman and the Range Rover Sport will be spurned.
Andrew Hamilton represents Ireland on the European Car of the Year jury.