Five reigning Cars of the Year for 2018
Tuesday, 13 November 2018
It's the season of Car of the Year (that's COTY to car people) awards all over the world. Here at Stuff we have our own gongs, of course: Top Cars of 2018. Congrats Volkswagen Polo, by the way.
But what tickles the trophies of other judges? Here are five reigning COTY winners from around the world. Some are just awarded, others are nearing the end of their run - but all are current title holders at the time of writing.
New Zealand
The NZCOTY celebrates its 30th year in 2018. The independent panel comprises NZ Motoring Writers Guild members from all around the country, including us here at Stuff Motoring and Sunday Star-Times. So we'll claim a hand in this one as well.
**READ MORE:
*** Checking out former NZCOTY winners
* What's Top Cars all about again?**
We're on the countdown to a new NZCOTY announcement in December, but until then the reigning champion is the Skoda Kodiaq SUV. By the way, the Kodiaq's little brother, the Karoq, is on the current NZCOTY shortlist.
North America
The North American Car, Utility and Truck of the Year awards (NACTOY) is usually announced right at the start of each year. So the 2018 winner(s) are nearing the end of their time at the top. It was founded in 1994 and comprises an independent panel of jurors from the US and Canada.
And yes, it does distinguish between regular passenger cars, utilities (pretty much what we'd call SUVs or crossovers) and trucks (including pickups and light-duty vans).
The reigning NACOTY is the Honda Accord - a different incarnation of the model to the one still sold in NZ. The utility winner is the Volvo XC60 and the truck trophy is held by the Lincoln Navigator.
Japan
Prepare to be confused. There are two Japanese Car of the Year awards: the JCOTY, which has been awarded since 1980 and is overseen by a board of mostly Japanese automotive journalists. It's open to any new vehicle launched in the Japanese market for that year.
Then there's the Automotive Researchers and Journalists Conference award, or RJC COTY, which was launched in 1992. As the name suggests, award winners are chosen at an annual conference.
The current JCOTY is the Volvo XC60 - only the second non-Japanese car ever to win the award (the other is the Volkswagen Golf, from 2014).
The RJC COTY sticks with Japanese cars only, although it does also recognise the best import car of the year. A new RJC COTY winner was announced on November, so it's very fresh: Mitsubishi's Eclipse Cross SUV.
Europe
The European Car of the Year (let's call it ECOTY for clarity, although nobody else seems to) was announced in March: another win for Volvo, with the XC40 compact-SUV being recognised.
ECOTY is chosen by a jury of journalists from 23 countries across Europe and is regarded as one of the more influential awards programmes globally. It's also one of the oldest: launched way back in 1964.
To be eligible, cars have to be available in the European region and have projected sales of more than 5000 units.
Footnote: the second-placed car in this year's ECOTY was the Seat Ibiza: a sister model under the skin to Stuff's Top Car for 2018, the VW Polo.
World
There has to be a truly global award, right? Every year an international panel of jurors judges the World Car Awards, which includes a supreme winner: the World Car of the Year. The organisation says the intention is to complement regional awards programmes rather than compete with them. WCA was launched in 2005.
The reigning champion is the Volvo XC60 (yes again). The jury is currently working on the 2019 award, which will be announced in April next year.
There's a also an (unrelated) Women's World Car of the Year award, launched in 2009 and founded by Kiwi Sandy Myhre. It's the only COTY voted on exclusively by women, from 28 different countries.
The 2018 WWCOTY winner announced just this month is the Volvo XC40.
Volvo's having a really good year.