The 83rd Geneva International Motor Show will officially open to the media on Tuesday. As final preparations are made in the showrooms on the eve of media day, the finalists for the "Car of the Year" award were announced.
Each of the world's top auto-making countries have a car in the final running, including one American contestant. Narrowed down from a field of 32, the eight finalists will be judged on the main criteria of innovation, performance, price, quality and design.
To be qualified for the Car of the Year running, the candidate/cars have to have been sold in Europe during the previous calendar year and have foreseeable sales of at least 5,000 units, the Geneva Motor Show website states.
This year's contestants are the Volkswagen Golf, Mercedes-Benz A Class, Renault Clio, Hyundai I30, Ford B-Max, Peugeot 208, Subaru BRZ/Toyota GT 86 and the Volvo V40.
"The decision will be exciting this year", said Frank Janssen, auto journalist and jury member, according to AutoChannel. "There is an upcoming trend in 2013: The return to compact models. Driving pleasure is guaranteed by sportiness and high quality standards."
Regarding the Subaru BRZ/Toyota GT 86, an unnamed jury member said in a promotional video released Monday, that the car "doesn't make sense up here," pointing to his head. But then points to his heart and said the car "hits you here really hard."
Fifty-nine European auto journalists will act as jury and cast votes for the winner. In the final vote, each juror must apportion 25 points among at least five cars, with a maximum of 10 points for any one of the cars.
President of Jury Hakan Atson said in the video that he felt all the cars were already winners for making it to the final eight.
"But at the end only one of them can be the winner," he said.
The announcement for Car of the Year has always come in November. This year marks a change in procedure, the announcement will now be made the day before the motor show opens to the media.
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