Peugeot 308 Grabs Laurels Being the European Car of the Year

Ever since 1964, there is a practice that an expert jury of the European journalists will gather together to do some research and name the European Car of the Year. After scrutinizing and finalizing the participants, they shortlist the finalists by the month of December and finally will announce the name of the winner at the Geneva Motor Show. They have done it for this year too, and finally selected the all new Peugeot 308 as the Car of the Year 2014.

Photo 1: PEUGEOT

This C-segment hatchback model from France, is competing with the Ford Focus, Volkswagen Golf (which was the winner last year) etc. With 307 points in total, the Peugeot 308 had beaten the BMW i3 (223 points), Tesla Model S (216 points), Skoda Octavia (172 points, Mazda3 (180 points), Citroën C4 Picasso (182 points) and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class (170 points).

By the readers poll; however, the Tesla Model S could have been won, which was followed by the Benz and Mazda models in the opinion polls. In such polls, the Peugeot came last. On the other hand, the expert European jury had a different set of criterion to look to decide the winner. However, it is not the first time that Peugeot is winning an award. Its predecessor, the celebrated 307 had also won the same during its debut in the year 2002. Before then, the 405 won had also won it 1988 and 504 took had been crowned in 1969.

Photo 2: Peugeot 308 Grabs Laurels Being the European Car of the Year

Also the sister concern of Peugeot, Citroën had won the award twice for the models like XM in 1990, CX in 1975, and GS in 1971. With all these achievements being pocketed, PSA in turn becomes the second most awarded automakers in the years’ long history of this award, falling just behind Fiat; which had been awarded a total of nine times. What comes next to Peugeot in the line is Renault, which had made the achievement for a total of six times.