European Car of the Year: 2014 nominees announced

The nominees for the upcoming 2014 European Car of the Year (COTY) award have been released.

A provisional list of candidates before the final seven are announced by mid December, the 2014 COTY contenders include nine Japanese cars, six German, five French, three US, two each from the UK and Korea, and one each from Italy, Spain and the Czech Republic.

Segments from sports cars to compact SUVs and people movers are covered, with three electric vehicles also making it into the mix.

According to the rules of the European organisation, all candidates are to be new vehicles currently on sale in five or more European markets, or will be on sale before year’s end, with the prospect of selling at least 5000 units per year.

The winner of COTY 2014 will be revealed on the eve of the Geneva motor show on March 3, 2014.

The seventh-generation Volkswagen Golf claimed the COTY title for 2013, finishing ahead of the Toyota 86/Subaru BR-Z and the Volvo V40.

2014 European Car of the Year (COTY) nominees:

BMW 4 Series
BMW i3
BMW X5
Citroen C4 Picasso
Ford EcoSport
Ford Kuga
Hyundai i10
Jaguar F-Type
Kia Carens (Rondo)
Range Rover Sport
Lexus IS
Maserati Ghibli
Mazda 3
Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Mitsubishi Space Star
Nissan Note
Opel Cascada
Peugeot 2008
Peugeot 308
Porsche Cayman
Renault Captur
Renault Zoe
Seat Leon
Skoda Octavia
Subaru Forester
Suzuki SX4
Tesla S
Toyota Auris
Toyota Corolla
Toyota RAV4