UK Car of the year awards: winners revealed

The 13 class winners of the 2018 UK Car of the Year of the Awards have been announced, ahead of the overall winner being revealed on February 23.

What are the UK Car of the Year awards?

UKCOTY was established in 2014 as way of distinguishing which new car models represent the best buys for British consumers, as their needs can vary quite significantly from other European markets. The annual European Car of the Year Awards are also unable to consider a particular car’s residual value in the British market, which in the case of some French and Italian marques are quite significantly different to how they perform as used cars in their home markets.

The awards are judged by an independent panel of 27 motoring journalists from a combination of print and online publications, including those aimed at both consumers and fleet customers.

Who are the category winners?

In total, 12 different automotive manufacturers were recognised as best-in-class (in 13 categories), following the first round of voting, ranging from Best Supermini to Best Performance Car. The winning model in each sector now goes forward to determine the overall prize of UK Car of the Year 2018.

BMW was the only manufacturer to pick up more than one award as the 5-Series scooped the top honour in the Best Executive category, while the Touring version was named Best Estate. Peugeot and Lexus picked up their first category wins as the 3008 was named Best Family car and the LC won the Best Coupe class. Mazda – overall winner in 2016 with the MX-5 – triumphed with the folding hard-top MX-5 RF to win Best Cabriolet.

There was a strong performance from the Volkswagen Group, with honours for SEAT, Volkswagen and Skoda. In the Best Supermini category, the SEAT Ibiza reigned victorious, while the latest generation of the Volkswagen Golf was voted Best Small Hatch.

The burgeoning Crossover market accounted for three categories in the UK Car of the Year Awards 2018, with the impressive Skoda Kodiaq a clear winner in the Best Large Crossover class. Best Small Crossover was Citroën’s C3 Aircross, while Volvo’s XC60 was named Best Medium Crossover.

Rolls-Royce made it a hat-trick of wins in the Best Luxury category as the Phantom triumphed. Previous wins in that class for the Goodwood-based manufacturer were the Ghost in 2015 and the Dawn in 2017. In contrast, there was a first win at the UK Car of the Year Awards for Kia, which saw off stiff competition from many highly regarded names to take the Best Performance crown with its new Stinger – a complete change of direction for the Korean maker.

Fellow Korean manufacturer Hyundai also showed its performance credentials, winning the new Best Hot Hatch category with its i30 N.

The overall UK Car of the Year 2018 will be announced on 23rd February 2018.