„Car of the Year 2013” jury reveals the eight finalist cars

The jury for the „Car of the Year 2013” award has selected eight finalist cars from a total of 34 candidates for Europe’s best car.

The list of finalists includes, in alphabetical order, the Ford B-Max, Hyundai i30, Mercedes-Benz A-Class, Peugeot 208, Renault Clio, Subaru BRZ / Toyota GT-86, Volkswagen Golf and Volvo V40.

Those who have been following the contest in recent years know that usually the short list includes 7 models. However, since two cars scored equal during the voting process, the committee chose to grant both cars access to the final round of the award (something like this happened in the 2007 edition of the award).

It may be a sign of the difficult economic times that Europe is going through or simply an objective opinion of the jury, but the fact is it was not a good year for luxury cars, at least as far as the “Car of the Year 2013” is concerned. There are some big names that didn’t make it to the final, including the Audi A3, BMW 3 Series, Lexus GS, Mercedes SL, Porsche Boxster and Land Rover Range Rover.

To enter the competition, all of the contenders have to be new vehicles available now or before year’s end in five or more European markets, with each having the prospect of at least 5,000 yearly sales. The second voting round will find the single winner that will be made announced at the Geneva Motor Show on March 4 2013.