Tuesday 18th November 2008

Insignia Voted COTY 2009

New Vauxhall saloon beats 37 contenders to be European Car of the Year

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The Vauxhall Insignia

Vauxhall’s swanky new Vectra replacement, the Insignia, has been voted the 2009 European Car of the Year. The 59-strong jury of senior motoring journalists from 23 European countries voted the Insignia first, with the Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Golf coming in second and third respectively.

37 cars had been put forward for COTY this year, with just seven short listed for the ultimate award, which represents the most impressive car that has been launched in the last 12 months. Each contender must be on sale in at least five European countries.

Steve Cropley, editor-in-chief of Autocar, COTY’s British-based sponsoring magazine said: ‘We are delighted to be able to deliver good news at such a tough time. The market’s the toughest we’ve seen for 20 years, but nothing alters the fact that the Insignia is a great car…. it deserved to triumph and it did.’

It has been over 20 years since Vauxhall won a COTY award, with the Calton/Omega taking the title in 1987. The Vauxhall Astra was COTY in 1985.

[b14]

COTY is a joke. Always some average Euro-box.

And the Insignia looks far too American for me these days, reminds me of the 300C

[john_r]

There appears to be a typo? You wrote swanky which I assume has an S in it by accident?

[PhantomPH]

Lets put this into context by remembering that previous EuroCOTY winners include :

Prius
Megane
S-Max
Peugeot 307 (!!!!!!)
Scenic....

I am sure the Insignia is a good car, but the EuroCOTY is an absolute joke to anyone who knows anything. Impresses Maureen when she visits the Vauxhall dealer, tho.

[DamoLLb]

[redacted]

[E21_Ross]

PhantomPH said:

Lets put this into context by remembering that previous EuroCOTY winners include :

Prius
Megane
S-Max
Peugeot 307 (!!!!!!)
Scenic....

I am sure the Insignia is a good car, but the EuroCOTY is an absolute joke to anyone who knows anything. Impresses Maureen when she visits the Vauxhall dealer, tho.

true, i can think of several cars in the last year which i would have over this any day, bmw m3, merc c63, audi rs6, the list could go on for a looooooooong time.

hehe.

[900T-R]

PhantomPH said:

Lets put this into context by remembering that previous EuroCOTY winners include :

Prius
Megane
S-Max
Peugeot 307 (!!!!!!)
Scenic....

And for those with longer memories -

Renault 9
Chrysler Simca Horizon
Chrysler Simca 1307/08
Lancia Delta (retrospectively they may have been right by accident - they couldn't have known about the Integrale in 1979 )
VW Golf Mk 3
Nissan Micra

Edited by 900T-R on Tuesday 18th November 12:11

[gumsie]

Wonder if Clarkson will kill it again.

[semaj]

gumsie said:

Wonder if Clarkson will kill it again.

No, Clarkson loves Vauxhall these days - Zafira, Monaro.....

[madeinsheffield]

like an american copy of a euro box that is made of plastic and been left too near a hot fire

[dubbs]

eCOTY promises this has nothing to do with GM just about to go bust....honest....

[waynepixel]

Who make up this Bullst. It's only just come on the bloody road and the car has won the 2009 European Car of the Year. fk off. Put the vote to the people and let them vote after the first year, then we will see if the car really is European Car of the Year. Marketing fake crap.

Edited by waynepixel on Tuesday 18th November 12:49

[DamoLLb]

waynepixel said:

Who make up this Bullst. It's only just come on the bloody road and the car has won the 2009 European Car of the Year. fk off. Put the vote to the people and let them vote after the first year, then we will see if the car really is European Car of the Year. Marketing fake crap.

COTY is the most 'impressive' car launched in the last 12 months so that wouldn't really work

[kambites]

[redacted]

[900T-R]

[redacted]

[DamoLLb]

[redacted]

[beetroute]

Most of the time they do select absolute dross, but I seem to recall the Porsche 928 won it many years ago - amybe this was an accident !

[flashygee]

Opel has at the Moment big Financial Probs.
I have heard BMW have a serious interest to buy Opel/Vauxhall when
the German Government cant realize the Rescue Plan with financial
Help for Opel.
Opel has stopped the production for all Models,and the new insignia is in
these situation future music.

[dwilkie]

Wasn't the new Mondeo this year, or was it 2007 :s I've always found Mondys are much better than Vectras, and the Insignia demonstrator we had wasn't anywhere near as good as the Mondeo we had at the same time, it spent most of the month in the carpark because nobody would ever drive it more than once, wheras the mondeo was always on teh road!

[madrob6]

Call me crazy but how can you consider something to be the car of a year for a year that hasn't even begun yet? Do they have crystal balls?

[dubbs]

I think they have crystal meth to be able to look at that cr4p and give it an award....

I'm sure it's great if you're a regional sales manager for Currys though and a mate of mine absolutely loves hacking his company vectra to bits without a care in the world and a MTB in the back... suppose they DO have uses...

Still no award... unless it's the "most discreet car to use for suburban covert operations" award