The New Generation i30 has won a place on the shortlist for the Car of the Year 2013 award, becoming the first Hyundai model to make the final round of voting in Europe’s premier award for new cars.
The 58 Car of the Year jury members, representing 22 European countries, allocated points to their preferred models during the first round of voting, and the i30 was among the highest-scoring cars.
Allan Rushforth, Senior Vice President and COO of Hyundai Motor Europe, commented, “The New Generation i30 was designed, developed and is made in Europe, for Europeans, so it’s a great honour for such a respected group of experts to recognise its relevance to Europe by shortlisting it for Car of the Year 2013.
“Its dynamic design and great value package are changing the way European consumers think about Hyundai, being drawn to i30 on an emotional level. This is borne out not only by independent research but also by sustained sales success in the highly-competitive C-segment.”
This latest achievement for Hyundai’s best-selling model in Europe crowns a year of major milestones for i30 in the region and around the world.
Earlier this month, Hyundai announced that more than 500.000 units of i30 had been sold in Europe since the first-generation model went on sale in 2007, and globally i30 has now surpassed 1 million sales.
At Hyundai’s award-winning European manufacturing facility in Nošovice, Czech Republic, more than half a million units of i30 have been produced.
The New Generation i30 family was recently expanded, with the unveiling of a new three-door version adding further sporting flair to the compelling characteristics of the five-door and Tourer models.
The other shortlisted candidates for Car of the Year 2013 are (in alphabetical order) the Ford B-Max, Mercedes A-class, Peugeot 208, Renault Clio, Subaru BRZ/Toyota GT-86 (as one candidate), Volkswagen Golf and Volvo V40.
The winner of the 50th edition of Car of the Year will be announced on March 4th 2013 in Geneva, ahead of the opening of the 2013 Geneva Motor Show.
Like all Hyundai’s newly-launched models in Europe, New Generation i30 comes with the reassurance of the industry-leading Five Year Triple Care package, which gives customers a five-year warranty with no mileage limit, five years of roadside assistance and five years of vehicle health checks.
