Jeep Avenger Is 2023 European Car Of The Year

The first all-electric Jeep wins, ahead of VW ID Buzz and Nissan Ariya.

To Chris Chilton

The Jeep Avenger has been named European Car of the Year 2023 at the Brussels Motor Show.

In a contest dominated by EVs, Jeep’s first electric car triumphed, with the Volkswagen ID 4 and even the Nissan Ariya trailing behind.57 judges gave the Avenger 328 points. Second-place ID only managed to score 241 points, while Ariya collected 211 points.

Of the seven finalists, the Chi Niro is 4th with 200 points, the Renault Austral 5th with 163 points, the Peugeot 408 6th with 149 points and the Toyota bZ4X/Subaru Solterra Twins with just 133. was the lowest in points. point.

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The competition was first held in 1964 and was won by Rover’s revolutionary 2000, but with the exception of cars such as the Rover 3500 (1977), Porsche 928 (1978) and Citroen XM (1990), cost Conscious European jurors usually like it. Affordable mainstream car. However, this isn’t the first time an electric car has won his ECOTY gong. Nissan’s Leaf (2011), Jaguar’s I-Pace (2019) and Kia’s EV6 (2022) have all outperformed internal combustion engines in the last decade.

While the jury of professional automotive journalists from across the continent is typically a strong panel of 61 people, four Russian judges chose to participate in this year’s event in response to their country’s aggression against Ukraine. I was forced. Each juror must distribute her 25 points, but at least he must divide them into 5 cars, and to one car he must not exceed 10 points.

Based on the same Stellantis platform as the Peugeot 2008 and Opel Mokka, the Avenger is currently only available as an EV, although a 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine version will be added soon. But designed specifically with Europe in mind, the tiny 160.5-inch (4,076 mm) SUV isn’t coming to the US.