In case you need a reminder of how radically the car world is changing, take a look at the shortlist of vehicles chosen for the prestigious European Car of The Year’s 2024 award. Of the seven cars selected to go through to the final reckoning, six are EVs and two are made in China.
The 59 jurors chose to put the BYD Seal, Volvo EX-30, Peugeot e-3008, Renault Scenic, Kia EV9, Toyota CH-R and BMW 5-Series forward to a final vote, the winner of which will be announced in February 2024. The Toyota is the only one not available with a fully-electric drivetrain, although it is a hybrid. The others are either purpose-built EVs or can be optioned without an ICE motor.
Related: BYD Seal Arrives In Europe With Up To 523 HP And 354 Miles Of Range
Undoubtedly the big eyebrow-raiser in that list is the inclusion of the BYD Seal, a small electric sedan conceived to rival the Tesla Model 3 and newcomers like the Hyundai Ioniq 6. BYD is a brand we might be familiar with (even if we’ve only read about it), but it’s only just taking its first step into the European car market and is completely unknown to most of the car buyers on the continent. That will change rapidly over the next few years as BYD and other Chinese brands make the trip west and starting stealing sales from legacy Euro brands.
In some cases, drivers will be buying Chinese EVs without even realising it. Volvo is a reassuringly familiar name to Western car buyers who might hesitate before handing over a load of money to an obviously Chinese-sounding company, but Volvo is owned by China’s Geely, and although there are plans to manufacture the EX30 in Belgium from 2025, the electric SUV was engineered in China and is only built there for now.
This is BYD’s first ECOTY appearance, but most of the other brands have a trophy tucked away from previous years. The Kia EV9 will be hoping to build on the EV6’s win in last year’s competition, the Toyota Yaris was victorious in 2021, Volvo scooped a win in 2018 with the XC40 and Peugeot’s outgoing 3008 came first in 2017. The BMW 5-Series, on the other hand, has never won ECOTY despite being launched way back in 1972, eight years after the organisation handed out its first Car of The Year gong. Who’s your money on for 2024?
