Even the European judges were surprised at this win.
The all new Peugeot 208 compact hatch which is targeted to arrive in Malaysia late this year has just been given the biggest motoring award, winner of the Car of the Year 2020 contest.
For the ninth consecutive year, this well known European Car of the Year ceremony took place at the Geneva Motor Show despite the yearly motor show recently being cancelled due to the Covid-19 movement in Europe. This Car Of The Year (COTY) event was broadcast online.
The seven finalists for this years European COTY were the BMW 1 Series, Ford Puma, Peugeot 208, Porsche Taycan, Renault Clio, Tesla Model 3 and the Toyota Corolla.
Motoring journalists on the panel who come from around Europe casted their votes on the best new cars for 2020 and the Peugeot 208 was voted as the overall winner.
The small French hatchback, which is also available as an electric e-208 managed to beat major heavyweights like the Tesla Model 3 and Porsche Taycan EV for the COTY 2020 crown.
This is how the judging went, the Peugeot 208 received a total of 281 points. This score was way ahead of two premium electric cars, the Tesla Model 3 with 242 points and the Porsche Taycan with 222 points. Just behind them were the Renault Clio with 211 points and the Ford Puma with 209 points.
Then came the Toyota Corolla with 152 points, followed by the BMW 1 Series with 133 points.
PRESS RELEASE: The small Peugeot 208, which offers a full-electric version, collected 281 points and 17 individual top votes. With 242 points and the same number of best votes, the electric car Tesla Model 3 was second, while the last place in the podium was also for an EV, the Porsche Taycan, with 222 points. The rest of the finalists for the award were the Renault Clio (211 points), Ford Puma (209), Toyota Corolla (152) and BMW 1-series (133).
Just a few days before its opening, the Geneva International Motor Show 2020 was cancelled by force majeure, the coronavirus outbreak, following an injunction of Switzerland’s Federal Council forbidding big meetings of people. However, and by courtesy of Palexpo managers, it was possible that the announcement of Car of the Year 2020 would follow its schedule for the afternoon of Monday, 2nd of March, and be available by streaming in YouTube channel.
Frank Janssen, the President of the Jury, was the conductor of the announcement and contacted by videoconference with the glad team of Peugeot managers, headed by the manufacturer’s Executive Vice-President, Jean Philippe Imparato
