Peugeot 308 is European Car of the Year: Geneva Motor Show

The new Peugeot 308 has been revealed as the European Car of the Year at Geneva, beating the BMW i3 EV in to second place.

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The Geneva Motor Show also means the announcement of the European Car of the Year for 2014, and the gong for this year has gone to the new Peugeot 308.

It took a jury of 58 journalists from 22 European countries to decide the new 308 offers such an appealing package it is a more impressive car than any of the seven finalists left in its wake.

It’s a very mainstream choice from the jury, some would say a surprise too, and will no doubt please Peugeot to have their fourth COTY title after the 307 (2002), 405 (1988) and 504 (1969) were previous winners. Whether the accolade will help 308 sales or not remains to be seen.

But it was a convincing win for the 308, against strong competition, with a total of 307 points awarded in the voting against 225 for the BMW i3 EV and 216 for the Tesla Model S, with the Citroen C4 Picasso in 4th (182 points), Mazda3 in fifth (180), Skoda Octavia in 6th (172) and the new Mercedes S Class in last place with 170 points.

Maxime Picat, Director General of Peugeot, said:

With the new PEUGEOT 308, we were convinced that we had achieved a leap in concept, technology and quality and which would soon allow it a place on the podium for the category in Europe.

The prestigious 2014 ‘Car of the Year’ award, which I receive today on behalf of everyone at PEUGEOT who has contributed towards the development and launch of the award winning new 308, is the best confirmation of this.

So well done to Peugeot for the Car of the Year Award