The all-electric Kia e-Soul was named as the Continental Tyres Irish Car of the Year for 2020 by a panel of motoring journalists from print, online and broadcasting at the recent annual Irish Car and Van of the Year Awards event. This was the first time that an all-electric car took the Irish Car of the Year title.

Kia took the top award with its new e-Soul model, which also took home two category awards on the night. These were the 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.

The e-Soul was chosen from among ten category winners covering all sectors of the motor car market. The all-electric car won three awards in total, Compact Car of the Year, Green/Efficient Car of the Year and the was the overall winner.

e-Soul features

The Kia e-Soul launched earlier this year. It is a high specification and modern electric vehicle (EV) that comes with a range of 452kms. It has a distinctive exterior design that may not endear itself to all motoring tastes, but it comes with an interior that’s packed with comfort, safety and a modern infotainment equipment.

Kia offers the e-Soul in two trims and one long range (64kw/452kms) electric drive system. Both trim levels feature a 10.25” touchscreen display with a 7” supervision display cluster. Safety features in this all-electric car include lane keep assist, smart cruise control and front collision avoidance. Additional features on the higher specification K3 model include full leather trim, Harmon Kardon sound system, heads-up display and blind spot detection. The entry level K2 model is available at €35,995 and the K3 at €37,495, both prices including Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) relief and government grants.

Game changer

The Kia e-Soul was my choice winner in all the categories it was eligible for. The final vote for the overall winner was made on the night and again, the Kia e-Soul was by far my car of choice.

Back in August, I wrote about how Kia’s new e-Soul had changed my view on the future of electric cars. The range capacity of the car at over 450km on a single full charge, persuaded me that we should ditch any thoughts of hybrids or re-conversion back to petrol. After that lengthy test drive, I became more convinced that Irish rural drivers need just two options, electric or diesel; the former for economy and the latter for towing power.

The performance of the Kia e-Soul was the reason for my conversion. I found the car to be a game-changer in terms of modern day motoring. With a range capacity of over 450km in real-life driving, electric motoring is at last making some sense. To say that I was impressed is an understatement and that’s the reason, in my opinion, the Kia e-Soul came out on top in the Continental Tyres Irish Car of the Year 2020 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,” said Tom Dennigan of Continental Tyres.

Having won in each of their respective categories, the ten winners were all in the running for the top honour. A judging panel of 32 journalists then named the Kia e-Soul as the winner of the overall Continental Tyres Irish Car of the Year 2020 Award by a slim margin.

The Continental Tyres Irish Van of the Year 2020 went to the Citroen Berlingo/Opel Combo Cargo/Peugeot Partner.

The joint entry of Citroën Berlingo/Opel Combo Cargo/Peugeot Partner was voted as the Continental Tyres Irish Van of the Year 2020 from a panel of six separate vans. These three vans shared the award because of the common features, design and manufacturing between the three car brands, all of which are now part of the French-owned PSA Group label.

Other vans eligible for the Continental Tyres Irish Van of the Year 2020 award included the new 2t Ford Transit, the all-electric powered Mercedes-Benz e-Vito, the Opel Vivaro, Opel Movano/Renault Master van, which also shares similar technical features and the new Renault Trafic van.

The new Citroën Berlingo/Opel Combo Cargo/Peugeot Partner van range has already won the International Van of the Year Award (IVOTY) 2019. The new vans, which have been available in Ireland since early 2019, are the fruit of a joint collaboration between PSA’s three brands – Peugeot, Citroën and Opel/Vauxhall, boasting high levels of equipment and comfort features and developed on the Group’s latest platform, the EMP2, to guarantee the highest quality, efficiency and performance.

Volkswagen Group Ireland brands SEAT, Audi and Volkswagen enjoyed triple success at the 2020 Continental Tyres Irish Car of the Year Awards, with three of their SUV offerings claiming titles.

The Volkswagen T-Cross was crowned Compact SUV of the Year. The model starts from €22,495, with a choice of 1.0l TSI petrol (95hp and 115hp) or a 1.6l (95hp) TDI diesel engine and comes in four trim levels, T-Cross, Life, Style and R-Line.

In the larger Medium Crossover of the Year category, a very tough and competitive category, the Audi Q3 came out as the winner. To round off the trio of awards, SEAT claimed the Large Crossover of the Year title with the Tarraco. The SEAT Tarraco costs from €35,660.

Volkswagen Group Ireland Managing Director Carla Wentzel summed up the feeling of the 12-brand group, saying; “This is the second year in a row that our group has claimed all-three SUV titles at the Continental Irish Car of the Year, and once again it shows the demand for this segment remains very strong. We are delighted to receive such great recognition from the motoring writers.”