What's all this about?
It's judging time for the UK Car of the Year (UKCOTY) Awards 2018 and in a 13-strong shortlist of category winners going for the overall title, a total of 12 different manufacturers are represented - proving the strength in depth of the current automotive industry.
So which is the only company to get more than one gong?
BMW, whose 5 Series was nominated as the Best Executive and Best Estate in its Touring guise, has been recognised as best-in-class more than once by the panel of 27 motoring journalists, who between them represent some of the biggest motoring outlets in the country.
Can you give me a little more background on UKCOTY and its format?
This year, the UKCOTY Awards - supported by Cox Automotive, with brands including Manheim and Motors.co.uk under its belt - has been expanded to 13 categories, ranging from Best Supermini to Best Performance. The shortlisted cars will now go forward to determine the overall prize of UKCOTY 2018, with the winner announced on February 23rd, just ahead of the 18-plate registration change on March 1st.
And what sort of metal has picked up the title in previous years?
Previous winners of the prestigious title are the Mercedes E-Class (2017), Mazda MX-5 (2016), the BMW i8 (2015) and, in the inaugural year of the awards, the BMW i3 (2014).
OK, can you run through some of the cars in the running for this year's award?
Among this year's nominees, aside from the 5 Series, Peugeot and Lexus picked up their first ever category wins in UKCOTY, the 3008 taking top spot in the Best Family car segment and the new LC winning Best Coupe. The hard-topped version of 2016's champion, the MX-5 RF, is Best Cabriolet for
Good, good. What about some of the more mainstream categories, like hatchbacks and crossovers?
The ever-talented Volkswagen Group picked up three honours, with the SEAT Ibiza taking Best Supermini, the Volkswagen Golf voted Best Small Hatch and the Skoda Kodiaq a winner of the Best Large Crossover segment.
Talking of crossovers, reflecting their increasing popularity, three categories were devoted to these vehicles - so, aside from the Kodiaq, the Volvo XC60 was named Best Medium Crossover and the Citroen C3 Aircross was the Best Small Crossover.
What about luxury and performance cars?
At the other end of the financial scale to the Citroen, Rolls-Royce picked up its third win in the Best Luxury Category, the latest Phantom scooping the honour to follow on from the Ghost in 2015 and the Dawn in 2017. And in the Best Performance and Best Hot Hatch categories, two incredibly impressive newcomers saw off tough competition and flew the flag for Korea - the Kia Stinger winning the vote in the former category, while the Hyundai i30 N took the hot hatch crown.
OK, just outline the list again for me, if you will?
The full list of UKCOTY Awards 2018 category winners are:
Best Supermini - SEAT Ibiza
Best Small Hatch - Volkswagen Golf
Best Family - Peugeot 3008
Best Executive - BMW 5 Series
Best Luxury - Rolls-Royce Phantom
Best Estate - BMW 5 Series Touring
Best Small Crossover - Citroen C3 Aircross
Best Medium Crossover - Volvo XC60
Best Large Crossover - Skoda Kodiaq
Best Coupe - Lexus LC
Best Cabriolet - Mazda MX-5 RF
Best Hot Hatch - Hyundai i30 N
Best Performance - Kia Stinger.
Find out more about the awards at ukcoty.co.uk.
Matt Robinson - 3 Jan 2018
