Euro NCAP has announced the five best performing cars of 2010. To be selected as safest cars of their categories, the vehicles achieved a high overall score and attained the coveted five star rating.

    
Top achievers by category are:

Category:                     Car:
Executive                     BMW 5 Series
Small Family                 Alfa Giulietta
Supermini                    Honda CR-Z
Small off-road 4×4       Kia Sportage
Small MPV                   Toyota Verso

In addition to the top five achievers, the Suzuki Swift, Kia Venga, BMW X1, VW Sharan, Seat Alhambra and Citroen C4 all exceeded the 80% mark in overall score, putting them on the list of best performing cars of 2010.

In 2010 Euro NCAP crash tested 29 vehicles, 65% of which reached the five star rating, compared to 90% in 2009. This decrease of 25% clearly shows that the criteria to reach five stars are now tougher. The poorest results of 2010 were achieved by the Citroen Nemo with three stars and by the Landwind CV9, which received only two stars.