40 new cars will fight it out for the coveted title of Irish Car of the Year 2025, in association with Continental Tyres. The winners from the 2025 Irish Car of the Year awards programme will be revealed at a gala event in The Conrad Hotel, Dublin, on Friday November 15th.
Voted on by jury members who are drawn from the Motoring Media Association of Ireland (MMAI), a group made up of 29 of Ireland’s most experienced motoring journalists, the Irish Car of the Year awards highlight for Irish motorists the best cars that have been launched in the country this year taking into account the particular requirements of the Irish market.
This writer has been a voting member of the Irish Car of the Year jury since 2016 and I look forward to voting once again in this year’s competition, which sees an incredible number of competitive models in line for the top prize.
Eligible cars will be divided into categories with a number of category winners announced on the night who go on to compete for the overall title of Irish Car of the Year. To be eligible, vehicles must be new generation models that arrived in dealer showrooms between 1st November 2023 and 31st October 2024.
Daragh Keany, Chairman of the MMAI, said:
“The past number of years have witnessed a number of shocks for the car manufacturing industry starting with the Covid pandemic in 2020 which was quickly followed by the worldwide semi-conductor shortage. These events all served to seriously reduce or delay the number of new cars built and launched over those years.
However, with a strong field of 40 exciting new car models for this year’s Irish Car of the Year awards programme, which is an increase of eight on last year’s tally, it shows that the industry here is not just surviving but thriving. There is huge excitement among the MMAI jurors, and we will have our work cut out for us getting through the eligible vehicles and voting process over the coming weeks”.
Tom Dennigan of awards sponsor, German premium tyre brand Continental Tyres, said:
“We are proud to again be associated with the Irish Car of the Year awards which recognises the best cars launched in Ireland each year. Electric vehicles have really come to the fore over the last number of years – for four years straight, the winner of the overall Irish Car of the Year title has been an electric vehicle but it remains to be seen if that will be the case for the 2025 winner, 17 of the 40 entrants are full electric models so they are definitely in with a good shout, but by no means a shoo in!”
Irish Car of the Year is Ireland’s most prestigious and long-standing car awards and was first awarded in 1978.
Last year’s winner of the 2024 Irish Car of the Year award was the all-electric Hyundai Ioniq 6.
The full field of candidates for the Irish Car of the Year 2025 awards is as follows:
| Audi Q6 eTron | Kia EV9 | Renault Rafale |
| BMW i5/5 Series | Lexus LBX | Renault Symbioz |
| BMW iX2/X2 | Lotus Eletre | Skoda Kodiaq |
| BYD Dolphin | Mercedes-Benz E-Class | Skoda Superb |
| BYD Seal | Mercedes-Benz CLE Coupé/Cabrio | Smart #1 |
| Citroen Ami | Mercedes-Benz V-Class | Smart #3 |
| Fiat 600 | Mini Countryman | Subaru Forester |
| Ford Explorer | Mini Cooper | Suzuki Swift |
| Honda CR-V | MG3 | Toyota C-HR |
| Honda ZR-V | Peugeot 3008 | Volkswagen ID.7 |
| Honda eNY1 | Polestar 3 | Volkswagen Tiguan |
| Hyundai Santa Fe | Polestar 4 | Volvo EX30 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5N | Porsche Macan | |
| KGM Torres EVX | Renault Scenic |
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Written by Caroline Kidd
Founder and Editor of Changing Lanes, Juror for Irish Car of the Year
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