Car of the Year 2022: seven finalists chosen

Six of the seven candidates are pure-electric; winner to be announced on 28 February

The shortlist of seven nominations for The Car of the Year 2022, the world’s most prestigious new car award, has been announced, chosen from 38 eligible candidates.

They are the Cupra Born, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, Peugeot 308, Renault Mégane E-Tech, and Skoda Enyaq. Of these, it is only the Peugeot that is not pure-electric, making for the most EV-intensive shortlist in the award's history. 

That is in direct contrast to last year's list, which contained only two exclusively electric cars, the Volkswagen ID 3 and Fiat 500 Electric. 

Eligible cars must essentially be new models, available in at least five European countries before the end of 2021.

Some 61 judges, representing 23 countries, select the seven-strong shortlist in a simple vote.

Second-stage voting takes place in the new year, with the winning car announced in Geneva on Monday 28 February.

Autocar is one The Car of the Year’s nine sponsoring publications. The 2021 winner was the Toyota Yaris, preceded by the Peugeot 208 in 2020, Jaguar’s I-Pace in 2019 and the Volvo XC40 in 2018.