The 60-member jury has cut 38 contenders to seven finalists for the 2027 Coche del Año en Europa award. The Car of the Year organization announced the shortlist on 30 October, after the competition’s second voting stage. Established in 1964, the award is decided by a European automotive-journalist jury.
Every finalist is fully electric. For the first time in the award’s 63-year history, the final seven include no combustion or hybrid models, including plug-in hybrids. The shortlist shows the jury’s selection of eligible new cars, not a ranking based on consumer sales.
The finalists, listed alphabetically, are BMW iX3, Cupra Raval, Hyundai Ioniq 3, Kia EV2, Renault Twingo, Volkswagen ID. Polo and Volvo EX60. All are made in Europe. Hyundai and Kia, both part of Hyundai Motor Group, each have one finalist.
Chinese manufacturers again failed to reach the final. MG’s preselection entries included MG IM5 and MG MG4 Urban; its third candidate was MG MGS6. Leapmotor entered the B05 and B03X, while BYD was represented by the BYD Dolphin G and Denza Z9GT. The Changan Deepal S05 and Xpeng P7+ are also out, as is the Zeekr 7GT. No Japanese or US marque made the shortlist. South Korea has two finalists, the Hyundai Ioniq 3 and Kia EV2, both built in continental Europe.
Spain has two cars in the running. The Cupra Raval and Volkswagen ID. Polo share a platform and are built at Seat Martorell in Barcelona. For the first time, two models from the historic Catalan plant have made the final. Both are fully electric.
The jury’s selection is separate from buyer demand in Spain, which a September sales report also tracked, covering Nissan’s MICRA electric and QASHQAI e-POWER.
The COTY jury has until 31 December to cast its votes. The successor to the Mercedes-Benz CLA, winner of the 2026 award, is due to be announced on 8 January 2027 at the Brussels Motor Show, which hosted the three previous editions. The scheduled announcement will name the winner; announcing the shortlist did not determine the award.
