Car of the Year 2004

[altezza]

Press release
The international Car of the Year jury, composed of 58 senior motoring journalists representing 22 European countries, has just voted the new Fiat Panda Car of the Year 2004.

With 281 votes, the Fiat Panda beat the Mazda3 (241), Volkswagen Golf (241), Toyota Avensis (219), Opel/Vauxhall Meriva (213), BMW 5 Series (144) and the Nissan Micra (111).

As well as being the resounding overall winner of Car of the Year 2004, the ultra-compact Fiat also attracted votes from the widest number of jury members: 55 out of 58 included the Panda in their nominations, while no less than 16 rated it top of their list.

This prestigious accolade for the new Panda underlines the remarkable record of achievement by Fiat Auto in these nominations. No less than five of the last 10 annual Car of the Year awards have been won by Fiat Auto: Fiat Punto in ’95,
Fiat Bravo/Brava in ’96, Alfa 156 in ’98, Alfa 147 in ’01 and now Fiat Panda in ’04.

This is the first time that an A-segment model has won the most prestigious accolade in the car industry.

The Car of the Year award ceremony, this year organised by the French L’Automobile Magazine, will take place in Paris on 19 January 2004.

Car of the Year was launched in 1964. In order to be admitted to the competition, new cars have to be commercially launched in at least five different European countries during the course of the year. The following parameters are then assessed: design, comfort, safety, fuel economy, driveability, performance, practicality, respect for the environment, price and value for money.

A shortlist is made from all the new models launched by the industry during the year, and seven finalists go forward to be judged. Each member of the jury has 25 points to award among the seven cars, with a maximum of 10 points for the first choice.

FIAT AUTO CARS OF THE YEAR
FIAT 124 (1967)
FIAT 128 (1970)
FIAT 127 (1972)
LANCIA DELTA (1980)
FIAT UNO (1984)
FIAT TIPO (1989)
FIAT PUNTO (1995)
FIAT BRAVO/BRAVA (1996)
ALFA 156 (1998)
ALFA 147 (2001)
PANDA (2004)

LEAGUE TABLE OF BRANDS SINCE 1964
FIAT 8 wins
RENAULT 5 wins
FORD 4 wins
CITROËN 3 wins
PEUGEOT 3 wins
ALFA ROMEO 2 wins
AUDI 2 wins
OPEL 2 wins
ROVER 2 wins
SIMCA 2 wins
LANCIA 1 win
AUSTIN 1 win
NISSAN 1 win
NSU 1 win
MERCEDES 1 win
PORSCHE 1 win
VOLKSWAGEN 1 win
TOYOTA 1 win


Picture 1 (http://server4.uploadit.org/files/201103-34481-b-fia-.jpg)
Picture 2 (http://server4.uploadit.org/files/201103-34481-a-fia-.jpg)

Congratulations to Fiat!
However, for me, i would still give the Mazda 3 a vote as "car of the year 2004" :wink:

[stradale]

I voted for the Fiat Panda. Such a clever car. A part of me wanted to vote for the BMW 5 series as well, because of BMW's courage of changing its design language for one of its best selling cars. With the old 5 series still being the best car in its class it's an immense achievement to improve even further. But in the end the little Fiat won me over. Besides, Fiat could really use some good news at the moment.

[TT]

I was amazed to see myself voting for the Panda too! :D As Stradale I also considered the new 5-Series, but the car of the year is usually something more "common", and the new Panda striked me when I first saw it in the metal. Of course I'd never buy it, but IMO this new one has still something from the original one.. it's small, it's cheap and cleaver...
And I'm happy to see Fiat managing to put all the financial problems behind (or almost), launching some cars well accepted from the critics :D