Car of the Year finalists named

THE New Zealand Automobile Association and New Zealand Motoring Writers’ Guild have selected the top 10 finalists for the Car of the Year and will name the winner in Auckland on December 12.

Members of the guild and the AA independently judge each of the cars and rank them on various elements, including value, design and quality.

The public can vote for People’s Choice Award from November 1 on the AA’s website.

The finalists (in alphabetical order) are: BMW 5 series, Holden Astra, Honda Civic hatch, Hyundai Ioniq, Land Rover Discovery, Mazda CX5, Skoda Kodiaq, Subaru XV, Suzuki Ignis and Suzuki Swift.

‘‘This year the top 10 lineup represents a great crosssection of new cars available to the market today, from lowercost small cars loaded with technology to very practical and more expensive luxury vehicles,’’ AA Motoring Services general manager

Stella Stocks said.

To be eligible, a car must have been released in the New Zealand market between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017.

There are also 11 Best in Class awards, which are selected from any new car on sale now in each category. This means a make and model released in previous years could beat a newer car in its class.

The safest car for 2017 will also be announced at the December 12 event, based on Australasian New

Car Assessment Programme (Ancap) crash test results.