Vauxhall Insignia wins European Car of the Year 2009

By Tim Pollard

Motor Industry

17 November 2008 11:32

Vauxhall/Opel has scooped the European Car of the Year gong – by a single point. The results, announced today, were another surprise in the 44-year history of CoTY, as the Insignia pipped the Ford Fiesta and pushed the VW Golf into third place.

The full results for Car of the Year 2009 are:

• 1st Vauxhall Insignia, 321 points
• 2nd Ford Fiesta, 320 points
• 3rd VW Golf, 223 points
• 4th Citroen C5, 198 points
• 5th Alfa Romeo Mito, 148 points
• 6th Skoda Superb, 144 points
• 7th Renault Megane, 121 points

The win is a lift for GM, which is struggling with cashflow problems in Detroit. It hasn’t won the CoTY award since the 1987 Omega.

French and Italian cars have dominated the award this decade, the Insignia following the Fiat 500, Ford S-Max, Renault Clio, Toyota Prius, Fiat Panda, Renault Megane, Peugeot 307, Alfa Romeo 147 and Toyota Yaris to win the top prize.

CAR’s editor Phil McNamara is one of the competition’s judges – and you can read how he voted in his blog here.

Each judge has 25 points to allocate as they see fit to the shortlist of seven cars; they can award all their points to one car, or spread them as they see fit.

By Tim Pollard