landslide victory for the Jeep Avenger

Friday the 13th is a lucky Jeep day. This famous day in January 2023 will be remembered as the day the Jeep Avenger won the Car of the Year trophy. This prize is not only the most famous in the automotive industry, the one that all manufacturers want to include in their list one day or another, but also the oldest. Coty (Car of the year) celebrates its sixtieth anniversary this year.

The jeep’s victory came quickly, for the first time in the Coty final. If, like other political topics, the detailed results of the votes show that Europe is still far from speaking with a single voice and harmony, the American SUV developed especially for the European market has the subject of a clear consensus. The 58 judges representing 22 European countries, including yours truly, voted en masse for this small SUV designed and built from the electrified e-GMP platform of the Peugeot e-2008. Only one Swedish colleague gave him only 2 points out of 25 points that each journalist must distribute among the seven candidates, knowing that it is forbidden to give more than 10 points to his favorite car. Four journalists gave it the highest score. Overall, the judges appreciated the homogeneity of the model and its positioning. The smallest electric SUV on the market (4.08 m), the Avenger is distinguished by high driving pleasure and a relatively competitive price, from 36,500 euros excluding bonuses.

Thus, the first electric vehicle of the American brand won an undisputed victory, pocketing 328 points. The Volkswagen ID. Buzz, the electric Combi of Wolfsburg that keeps talking about him, climbed to the second step of the podium with a gap of 87 points (241 points). In this vehicle, the jurors seem to be letting their hearts speak more than voting according to the criteria implemented for Coty’s election. Third, the Nissan Ariya, the first electric SUV from the Japanese manufacturer, completes the podium with 211 points. A car that we did not defend, believe that the driving pleasure is not there in terms of behavior, sensation and comfort. Similarly, the price of this SUV, around 60,000 euros, seems too high to us to meet the criteria for the trophy. On the contrary, the attractiveness of the price and the diversity of electrified technologies (hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric) are the criteria that allow the Kia Niro to reach the fourth place with 200 points.

Fifth in the standings with 163 points, the Renault Austral is our favorite of the year. This new model seems to us to be a reference in the compact SUV segment of generalist brands with a human-machine interface based on a new digital panel that provides access to the Google universe, the agility of its four-wheel steering and the its a good hybrid. engine. 200 brilliant horsepower thanks to particularly controlled fuel consumption (around 6 l/100 km recorded over long distances).

In the end, the Peugeot 408 was not worthy but it seemed to most of the judges that a version of the body could not aspire in the first place. This does not prevent this new type of sedan from being a perfect model and in line with the latest Peugeots. The Toyota bZ4X – Subaru Solterra electric duo brought up the rear. With the weakness of its autonomy (almost 200 km on the highway), it is necessary to add a complex ergonomics and concerns of young people who forced to postpone its launch in the markets. Finally, we note that in European countries where there is still a car industry, the judges voted for the models of their national brands, in a less proportion. This applies mainly to Germans, French and Italians.