Citroen C5 overtakes nine rivals to win car of the year award

THE new Citroen C5 has been named as the Semperit Irish Car of the Year 2008

The car, which was launched on the Irish market in early 2008 in saloon and estate versions, was also named as the Irish family car of the year.

The winning Citroen C5 was chosen ahead of nine other models shortlisted for the coveted prize by 28 members of the Irish Motoring Writers Association.

Sales of the new model have helped the French car manufacturer increase its overall sales and share of the Irish market in the past 12 months against a background of a rapid slowdown in the motor trade.

Overall Citroen sold 2,383 cars in the Republic in the first 10 months of 2008 compared to 2,104 over the corresponding period in 2007, even though sales for all cars are down 18% on last year.

The good performance has helped Citroen to increase its share of the market from 1.1% to almost 1.6%.

Earlier this week, the Citroen C5 also came in fourth place in the European car of the year behind the overall winner, the new Opel Insignia, while it also finished in second position in the Japanese car of the year awards behind the Toyota iQ.

The Citroen C5 was a clear winner of the award with a total of 200 votes, followed by the Ford Fiesta in second place with 158 votes and the Jaguar XF in third position with 156 votes.

Other models shortlisted were the Mazda 6, the Seat Ibiza, the Volvo XC60, the Ford Kuga, the Volkswagen Passat CC, the Citroen Berlingo Multispace and the Renault Grand Modus.

Points were awarded across a number of different scoring criteria, from innovation and safety to space, comfort, build and driving quality and value for money.

This year’s competition was the first time in the 30-year history of the competition that awards were made for five different categories.

Paddy Murphy of Semperit Ireland said the extension of the scheme provided an even more valuable indication to the Irish motoring public about the choice of vehicles on the market.

The Ford Fiesta was named as Irish small car of the year while the SUV/crossover of the year award went to the Volvo XC60.

Other winners were the Citroen Berlingo Multispace (Irish MPV of the year) and the Jaguar XF (Irish luxury/sports car of the year).

The award for Irish van of the year was shared jointly by the Citroen Berlingo and the Peugeot Partner.