Irish Car of the Year

The Continental Tyres Irish Car of the Year award was established in 1978, based on similar awards of Car of the Year. It is organised and judged by the Irish Motoring Writers Association (IMWA) and Association of Professional Motoring Press (APMP) a grouping of Irish motoring journalists. The award was initially sponsored by Semperit, but has been sponsored by Continental Tyres since it acquired Semperit in December 2009.
The award has eleven category winners: Irish Car of the Year (overall winner), Compact Car of the Year, Medium Car of the Year, Large Car of the Year, Compact SUV of the Year, Medium SUV of the Year, Large SUV of the Year, Green/Efficient Car of the Year, Performance/Luxury Car of the Year, Hot Hatchback of the Year, and MPV of the Year since November 2019.
Ford has won the competition eight times, with the Ford Mondeo winning the overall title the most times for an individual model. The current "Irish Car of the Year" title holder is the Kia e-Soul, the first time ever an electric car has won the top title. The awards event takes place each year, at a venue in Dublin in November. The award ceremony for the Irish Car of the Year 2020 took place on 7 November 2019, at "The Westin" Hotel.
Current rules.
Cars are assessed by jury, comprising 34 of the experienced motoring journalists in Ireland. Each member road test each car individually on the following criteria:
Results.
The first receiver of the award was the Volkswagen Golf Diesel, when it received the inaugural award in 1978. It debuted some four years after the regular Volkswagen Golf. The second receiver, the Volkswagen Derby, was around 1½ years old when it won the award, as was the third receiver, the Fiat Ritmo.
The Datsun Stanza received the award soon after its launch, while the next receiver, the Ford Escort, had been on sale since September 1980. Mercedes won the award of 2017, the first time in the forty year history of the award. The Peugeot 3008 won the accolade for 2018, the second time the car has won the top award since 2010. The current winner is the Kia e-Soul, which also won the categories of Irish Compact Car and Irish Green/Efficient Car of the Year 2020.
The Ford Mondeo is the only model achieving three time winner of the title "Irish Car of the Year", winning it in 1994, 2008 and 2016.