Ireland’s motoring journalists have chosen the Kia e-Soul as Continental Tyres Irish Car of the Year for 2020.

In a groundbreaking decision it is the first time that an electric car takes Irish Car of the Year title.

At an awards ceremony at the Westin Hotel in Dublin, motoring journalists from print, online and broadcasting hosted the gala black tie event attended by Ireland’s leading car brands, importers, distributors and other motoring dignitaries.

Kia took the top award with its new e-Soul model which also took two category awards on the night: Continental Tyres Irish Compact Car of the Year and Continental Tyres Irish Green / Efficient Car of the Year.  As the first ever electric car to take the Irish Car of the Year title, the e-Soul was one of several full electric or hybrid models in the running for this year’s award.

Joint-Chairman of the Irish Car of the Year Committee, Anthony Conlon said: “Congratulations to the Kia team on a very worthy win, I am sure that the Irish Car of the Year title will be a huge boost for the e-Soul during the busy January car sales period.”

Joint-Chairman of the Irish Car of the Year Committee, Bob Flavin said: "This is the first time that an electric car has won Irish Car of the Year, a real sign of things to come I think. Regardless of its fuel type, the e-Soul came out as the clear winner and was hugely popular with my motoring journalist colleagues".

Tom Dennigan of Continental Tyres said about the awards: “The advice of the Irish Car of the Year jurors is instrumental in helping consumers here to make sense of the ever-growing complexity of the cars we drive – both from the point of view of the increased fuel options and the myriad of new safety features and technologies that are found on even the entry level models of all brands”.


The Continental Tyres Irish category winners:

  1.  Compact Car of the Year: Kia e-Soul
  2.  Medium Car of the Year: Toyota Corolla
  3.  Large Car of the Year: Peugeot 508
  4.  Compact SUV of the Year: Volkswagen T-Cross
  5.  Medium SUV of the Year: Audi Q3
  6.  Large SUV of the Year: SEAT Tarraco
  7.  Hot Hatchback of the Year: Ford Focus ST
  8.  Performance / Luxury Car of the Year: Alfa Romeo Stelvio QV
  9.  Green / Efficient Car of the Year:  Kia e-Soul
  10. MPV of the Year: Peugeot Rifter

Having won in each of their categories, the ten category winners were all in the running for the top honour with the judging panel of some 32 journalists electing the Kia e-Soul by a slim margin.

The joint entry of Citroen Berlingo / Opel Combo Cargo / Peugeot Partner was voted as the Continental Tyres Irish Van of the Year 2020.