The international jury, which consists of 58 motoring journalists from 22 countries, has nominated the seven finalists of the 2017 European Car of the Year selection. The winner will be announced on March 6th in Geneva, Switzerland.

No American, Korean, electric or hybrid cars

Models from various vehicle segments are ranked in the final selection, from urban toddlers through hybrids to premium sedans. Expectedly, five out of seven candidates belong to the European brands, the remaining two come from Japan. This year, the list does not include not even one representative from America or Korea. Another interesting fact is that among the finalists there are no electric models or vehicles, designed as hybrids.

And the 2017 European Car of the Year finalists are …

Cars, that will compete for the noble 2017 European Car of the Year title, are:

• Alfa Romeo Giulia
• Citroen C3
• Mercedes-Benz E-Class
• Nissan Micra
• Peugeot 3008
• Toyota C-HR
• Volvo S90 / Volvo V90

Until now, the most successful brand in winning the European Car of the Year award is Fiat with nine titles, followed by Renault (6 titles), Ford and Opel (both with 5 titles).

This year, the PSA group leads in the number of the final contestants. Looking back, PSA already won this award 7 times, four times with Peugeot and three times with Citroën. After the elimination of the Fiat 124 and Maserati Levante, Italians still hope for another victory, this time with Giulia.

Many prominent contestants didn’t manage to break through to the finals: Audi A5 and Q2, Jaguar F-Pace, Renault Megane and Scenic, Skoda Kodiaq, Tesla model X and VW Tiguan, if we mention just a few.

The final voting is organised in a way that each one of 58 members of the jury has 25 points. These points must be distributed among at least 5 cars, with no more than 10 points to any one car.

Let us recall the winners of the last three years…

In 2016, the title went to Opel Astra with 312 points, followed by Volvo XC90 (294 points) and Mazda MX-5 (202 points).

In 2015, the European Car of the Year was Volkswagen Passat with 340 points, the runner-up was Citroën C4 Cactus (248 points) and the third place went to Mercedes-Benz C-Class (221 points).

In 2014, Peugeot 308 earned the title with 307 points, the 2nd place went to BMW i3 (223 points) and the 3rd place to Tesla Model S (216 points).

Image credits: Opel, Volkswagen, Peugeot, Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota, Volvo