The Opel Corsa has been named as the winner of the Autobest 'Best Buy Car of Europe 2020' by an international jury that includes CompleteCar.ie's own Road Test Editor, Dave Humphreys. This year, competition was extremely close between the five finalists, including the Peugeot 208, Skoda Kamiq, Nissan Juke and Renault Clio. In the end, the Opel Corsa won by a mere 0.2 per cent, or 157 points advantage. A full breakdown of the points awarded to each car by each jury member will be published on the Autobest website.
A close finish
The Peugeot 208 was hot on the heels of the Corsa in all aspects of the judging, while the Skoda Kamiq came in third place with a total of 16,848 points, just 612 points behind the second-placed Peugeot. Fourth place went to the Renault Clio, while the Nissan Juke ranked in fifth. "It was a very balanced Final 5. All the finalists are great examples of what is today 'a best buy car' on our continent. The mission of the Jury was not easy, and the difference on the podium is very small. But in every competition must be a winner, and the winner is the new Opel Corsa, 'The Best Buy Car of Europe'", said Ilia Seliktar, Jury President.
Technobest award for Mazda
There were several other category winners, including Mazda, which was awarded the Technobest 2019 award for the development of its SkyActiv-X engine technology. Skoda also managed to pick up an award - the Smartbest 2019 - for its digital personal assistant named Laura. Many cars now feature such systems, but unlike some others, this was designed and created in-house by Skoda's software engineers in the Czech Republic.
The Volkswagen ID.3 won the Ecobest 2019 award. It is the first car from the Volkswagen Group to use its MED platform that will go on to underpin a wide range of electric vehicles in the future. A good choice of battery sizes and driving ranges, in addition to competitive pricing, contributed to the ID.3 winning this award. In recognition of design excellence, the Designbest 2019 award will be presented to Luc Donckerwolke, the Chief Designer at Hyundai Motor Group, which includes Kia. Donckerwolke, one of the most accomplished designers in the world, made his mark in the design departments of Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini before now heading up the Korean group.