The three cars most closely vying for the top slot in the AA Ireland Car Awards were all electric, with Hyundai's Ioniq 6 pipping the BYD Atto 3 and the MG 4 to take the overall Car of the Year award.
It’s notable that the latter two cars are made in China and that neither BYD nor MG were even sold on the Irish market just a couple of years ago - an indication of just how far Chinese brands have progressed in Europe and elsewhere in a very short period of time. You can expect to hear a great deal more about both these companies - and other Chinese manufacturers - in the near future as they continue to cause competitive headaches for their European competitors.
The Hyundai Ioniq 6 - a car styled in a rather daring way that tends to divide opinion - is one of the most impressive ev's around and impresses not just with its design and technology, but also with its dependable range and excellent energy consumption.
Here are the other category winners selected by a panel of motoring journalists, including your correspondent:
CITY CAR
The best city car was the Volkswagen e-Up, currently Volkswagen’s smallest EV offering, with the Fiat 500 e and the Toyota Aygo X were the runners-up.
SUPERMINI
Skoda’s impressive budget car, the Fabia, emerged the winner here, with the Peugeot 208 and the Toyota Yaris in second and third.
FAMILY HATCHBACK
Ford’s recently upgraded Focus came first in this category, with the VW iD 3 and the Peugeot 308 runners-up.
LARGE FAMILY CAR
Skoda’s Superb has been around for a long time and is due to be replaced next year but, probably due to its sheer space and practicality, came first here, with its sibling, the Octavia, and the Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid near challengers.
SMALL CROSSOVER
Toyota’s Yaris Cross has been a popular choice for many buyers because of its design, price and styling and it beat the Ford Puma and the electric Jeep Avenger into second and third.
MEDIUM CROSSOVER
Renault’s Austral led the field here, with the BTD Atto and the Nissan Quashqai runners-up.
LARGE CROSSOVER
This category went to another popular Skoda choice, the Kodiaq, which was followed by the Nissan X-Trail and the Kia Sorento.
PERFORMANCE CAR
This one went to BMW’s M2, with the Audi e-Tron GT and the Audi RS 3 the runners-up.
COMPACT EXECUTIVE CAR
VW’s iD 4 beat the Tesla 3 with the Mercedes C-Class taking second and third in the voting.
LARGE EXECUTIVE CAR
Mercedes’ EQE electric emerged as the most popular voting choice here, beating the BMW 5 Series and the Mercedes E-Class.
BUDGET EV
MG had the consolation prize for missing out on the main award with this category where its 4 model took first place. The BYD Atto and the Jeep Avenger were runners-up.
BEST FAMILY EV
Again, Skoda managed to take a top place with the Enyaq, which came in ahead of the BYD Atto 3 and the Hyundai Ioniq 6.
BEST LUXURY EV
In what’s probably the priciest category, BMW i7 came in ahead of Mercedes’ EQS and the Audi e-Tron GT.
