Renault Clio awarded ‘Car of the Year’

The Renault Clio has been awarded the prestigious accolade of ‘Car Of The Year’ for 2006.

Finalists for the award were the Renault Clio, Volkswagen Passat, Alfa Romeo 159, BMW 3-Series, Mazda5, Citroën C1/Peugeot 107/Toyota Aygo and the Toyota Yaris.

Steve Cropley, COTY juror and Editor-in-Chief of Autocar magazine, said: ‘It has been a very tough contest this year and the Renault Clio won by just four points, leaving the Volkswagen Passat a very close second.

‘The jurors were impressed by Renault’s change in philosophy with the latest Clio, which has brought much-improved refinement and trim quality to the car, along with improved road presence and rear cabin space.’

The COTY jury is made up of 58 senior journalists from 22 countries. Their objective is to choose the most outstanding new car to go on sale in the past 12 months. Jurors vote twice: first to select a short-list of seven from the new cars launched in Europe, then again to choose the winner. Last year's COTY winner was the hybrid Toyota Prius.

Autocar is one of seven leading publications from around Europe which organise the COTY contest. Each publication takes it in turn to organise the vote, publicise and promote the contest and hold the prize-giving ceremony. This year the contest was organised by the Italian magazine Auto. The CEO of Renault will receive the Car Of The Year 2006 trophy in January.

The jury is completely independent of the Organising Committee in matters connected with the award itself, the selection of eligible cars and the voting.

CAR OF THE YEAR 2006
58 jury members have 25 points to apportion to at least five of the seven cars on the short list. The final points score:

Renault Clio 256 points

Volkswagen Passat 251 points

Alfa Romeo 159 212 points

BMW 3-series 203 points

Mazda5 198 points

Citroen C1/Peugeot 107/Toyota Aygo 187 points

Toyota Yaris 143 points