The Jeep Avenger, the firm’s first EV, has been named the 2023 Car of the Year. Usually announced at the Geneva Motor Show in March, instead the ceremony took place at the Brussels International motor show as Geneva has been cancelled again this year.
It was expected that Geneva would go ahead in February, but it is now linked with a second show in Doha, Qatar, which is now the only event going ahead in November. It would appear that motor shows, particularly in Europe, are falling out of favour.
The Avenger took the title with 328 points, beating out the Volkwagen ID Buzz on 241 and the Nissan Ariya on 211 points. The Kia Niro, Renault Astral, Peugeot 408 and Toyota gZ4X/Subary Solterra rounded out the final results.
This is the 60th anniversary of the awards, which were established in 1964 and the jurors represents nine publishers around Europe. This year, 57 jurors voted, a reduction from last year as four Russian jurors were excluded.
Jurors have 25 points each to allocate and may give no more than 10 points to any one car. They must also distribute their points between at least five cars, taking into account factors including technical innovation and value for money.
The seven cars making up the shortlist were chosen after an earlier vote, following a number of test events, including a week long test in Denmark on both closed and public roads. A final test took place over two days in Brussels earlier in the week.
The Jeep Avenger isn’t on sale yet in Ireland but we can expect it here for the second half of the year with pricing expected at around €40,000.
The Avenger nameplate was first used on a saloon car from 1970. Developed by the Rootes Group before their takeover by Chrysler, it was produced all through that decade before being rebadged as a Talbot between 1979 and 1981.
