David Thomas, Managing Director of Volvo Ireland, accepting the Irish Car of the Year 2019 award for the Volvo XC40The Volvo XC40 has won the title of Irish Car of the Year 2019 at a gala event in the Gibson Hotel, Dublin.
Motoring journalists from print, online and broadcasting hosted the Irish Car of the Year 2019 Awards in association with Continental Tyres, with the event attended by Ireland’s leading car brands, importers, distributors and other motoring dignitaries.
The XC40 scooped the top prize from a field of 9 eligible category winners including the new Ford Focus, Nissan Leaf and Volkswagen Touareg. All new cars launched on the Irish market in the last 12 months are eligible for the awards, with 33 jurors, including this writer, voting in this year’s competition.
The aim of Irish Car of the Year is to signpost the best new cars in a number of categories to guide Irish consumers looking to buy a new car. For a full list of the categories and contenders in this year’s competition, check out our new site at www.caroftheyear.ie.
There were also a number of categories winners as follows:
Ford Focus – Irish Small / Compact Car of the Year 2019
SEAT Arona – Irish Small Crossover of the Year 2019
Volvo XC40 – Irish Compact Crossover of the Year 2019
Skoda Karoq – Irish Medium Crossover of the Year 2019
Volkswagen Touareg – Irish Large Crossover of the Year 2019
Mercedes Benz CLS – Irish Executive / Premium Car of the Year 2019
Ford Fiesta ST – Irish Hot Hatchback of the Year 2019
BMW M5 – Irish Performance Car of the Year 2019
Nissan Leaf – Irish Green / Efficient Car of the Year 2018
Nissan Leaf E Pedal – Irish Car of the Year Innovation Award 2019
The Mercedes Benz Sprinter was voted as Irish Van of the Year 2019.
ICOTY Committee member Mark Gallivan said: “What a wonderful array of cars we had in this year’s competition, it was a very tight race and the XC40 is a very worthy winner.”
ICOTY Committee member Bob Flavin said: “Congratulations to the Volvo XC40 for winning through from a field of some 48 new models launched this year on the Irish market.”
Tom Dennigan of Continental Tyres said about the awards: “The choices of the Irish Car of the Year jury provide a great helping hand to Irish consumers in navigating their way through the bewildering array of high tech vehicles that are launched in Ireland each year and in this regard, Continental is delighted to be associated with the Irish Car of the Year awards.”