Car of the Year 2005

The Toyota Prius has been awarded the European title of ‘Car of The Year 2005.’

The car was chosen from a group of finalists including the Citroen C4, Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra, Renault Modus, Peugeot 407 and the BMW 1-series.

Steve Cropley, editor-in-chief, Autocar magazine, was one of the six UK members of the Car of the Year Jury, he said: “Toyota’s Prius is the most successful hybrid car available today and is being used as everyday transport by 120,000 drivers worldwide. Toyota has clearly demonstrated the way forward.”

The Jury was made up of 58 journalists from 22 countries. Amongst those representing the UK was Paul Horrell from Top Gear magazine and Andrew English of the Daily Telegraph. Their objective was to choose the most outstanding new car to go on sale in Europe the past 12 months. Last year’s winner was the Fiat Panda.

Although the winner has been announced the official trophy presentation will take place in Stockholm in January 2005 at a function hosted by the Swedish magazine Vi Bilagare.

The Toyota Prius is claimed to be the cleanest family car on sale with an emissions figure of just 104g/km; it combines a 1.5-litre petrol engine with an electric motor. At speeds of up to 30mph the Prius can run on its electric motor alone, making it a zero emissions vehicle in city traffic and when stationary.