I haven't seen any posts about this, so here it goes...
The European Car of the Year is probably the most prestigious automotive award on the Old Continent. Every year 58 European journalists from 22 countries, representing all major car magazines test and evaluate the new models introduced over the year. The Car of the Year 2014 title will go to one of the 31 models tested a couple days ago by the journalists as they met in Denmark. By early December, the jury is expected to name the 7 finalists and the winner will be announced at the Geneva Motor Show, in March 2014.
It is not surprising, that the Model S is one of these 31 cars. But what are the chances of making it to the final 7 or even winning? Well, if you had asked me a few weeks ago, I wouldn't have been too optimistic. You see, save for Norway, Tesla fever is still at a very early stage over here. There are a few articles here and there, and I've seen a couple of good reviews too, but as for the majority of non-geeks or car enthusiasts, I do not think many of them even heard of the Model S. When I read about Tesla in the Hungarian online media (usually car or investment sites), the articles are full of errors and do not take the car or the company too seriously.
At least they didn't use to.
The most popular online and TV car magazine in my country, Totalcar, has 3 journalists elected to the jury of this award. Until now, the general sentiment about Tesla - as much as I could get from the very few articles they ran on it - was very skeptical, sarcastic even. When they checked the car out during the last major European car show, their comment was: "So this is what I'm supposed to be amazed about? This should conquer the car industry? Come on!". Granted, they didn't drive the car, they just sat in it for a few minutes at the motorshow.
So imagine my surprise when they started teasing about their experience with the car and their first upcoming review on it a few weeks ago. As they arrived in Denmark for the Car of the Year test, they started blogging about the whole event. It became clear that the BMW i3, the Renault Zoe and the Model S received the most attention from the journalists. In fact, a few days later their post was extremely enthusiastic. They said they could barely get hold of the Model S, as journalist and reps from other car companies were standing in line all the time to drive it. The 2 Model S they had were in constant use and everyone was gushing. In particular, they told a story about one conversation, where they were talking at the end of a day with other members of the jury about the cars. Someone asked the Totalcar journalists which car they liked the most so far. They said something like "You have to ask?!" and then everyone smiled, because they all knew it was the Model S. That was the car everyone was talking about.
So this morning they posted their full review on the car. Now these are total petrol heads, who normally make fun of EVs, so allow me to quote a few lines from the review:
"I think end of September 2013 is a turningpoint in my life... the Tesla Model S turned my carbon-hydrate burning worldview upside down.... if EVs will be like this, not only will I own one, but I will even enjoy it and only keep a petrol burning oldtimer for the weekends... it was impossible to run any range tests on the Tesla as journalists and reps from competitors were giving the key to each other… We were allowed 30 minutes with the car, but ended up taking it back after 50. This car is ingenious... Acceleration is like turning on a conventional light bulb. You hit the pedal and you immediately drive at 1000 kmh. It is frightening, unbelievable and amazing... it is Ferrari and Lambo territory... Even the brakes - which are usually awful in EVs - are almost perfect... steering is accurate and responsive... due to the low center of gravity we were unable to make the car roll... it is almost at the level of a BMW 5 series [the industry gold standard]... suspension and ride comfort are excellent... it beats every other car in practicality with the trunk and the frunk..."
They had an equally gushing 2,5 minute video review, featuring a subconscious "tesla grin" on the face of the journalist as he hit the pedal. They went on commenting how unbelievable it is that a "no name car company run by geeks produced something so perfect as their first car". They also had a podcast recently where they explained how they were all laughing as - after testing the Model S - they went back to test a diesel BMW, a car they once considered state of the art, and could not stand the noise it made. They said something like "it sounded like a bad sewing-machine and we could not understand how a company can have the audacity to sell something so shameful for such a price when you have a car like the Model S".
So, do "we" have a chance at snapping the Car of the Year award next March? If we did, it would make huge waves in the EU as this is "the" car award here. But you can never underestimate the lobby power of the likes of BMW, Mercedes or VW. However, having followed the blogs, podcasts and reviews of these 3 jurors over the past few weeks, understanding what conversations took place behind the scenes and how the EU press felt about the Model S, I would be extremely surprised if it was not one of the 7 finalists. It seems to me the European car journalists just had their eyes opened.
You can find the official page of the award here http://caroftheyear.org
The full list of the 31 cars in the race is:
BMW 4 Series
BMW i3
BMW X5
Citroen C4 Picasso
Ford EcoSport
Ford Kuga
Hyundai i10
Jaguar F-Type
Kia Carens (Rondo)
Range Rover Sport
Lexus IS
Maserati Ghibli
Mazda 3
Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Mitsubishi Space Star
Nissan Note
Opel Cascada
Peugeot 2008
Peugeot 308
Porsche Cayman
Renault Captur
Renault Zoe
Seat Leon
Skoda Octavia
Subaru Forester
Suzuki SX4
Tesla S
Toyota Auris
Toyota Corolla
Toyota RAV4
The European Car of the Year is probably the most prestigious automotive award on the Old Continent. Every year 58 European journalists from 22 countries, representing all major car magazines test and evaluate the new models introduced over the year. The Car of the Year 2014 title will go to one of the 31 models tested a couple days ago by the journalists as they met in Denmark. By early December, the jury is expected to name the 7 finalists and the winner will be announced at the Geneva Motor Show, in March 2014.
It is not surprising, that the Model S is one of these 31 cars. But what are the chances of making it to the final 7 or even winning? Well, if you had asked me a few weeks ago, I wouldn't have been too optimistic. You see, save for Norway, Tesla fever is still at a very early stage over here. There are a few articles here and there, and I've seen a couple of good reviews too, but as for the majority of non-geeks or car enthusiasts, I do not think many of them even heard of the Model S. When I read about Tesla in the Hungarian online media (usually car or investment sites), the articles are full of errors and do not take the car or the company too seriously.
At least they didn't use to.
The most popular online and TV car magazine in my country, Totalcar, has 3 journalists elected to the jury of this award. Until now, the general sentiment about Tesla - as much as I could get from the very few articles they ran on it - was very skeptical, sarcastic even. When they checked the car out during the last major European car show, their comment was: "So this is what I'm supposed to be amazed about? This should conquer the car industry? Come on!". Granted, they didn't drive the car, they just sat in it for a few minutes at the motorshow.
So imagine my surprise when they started teasing about their experience with the car and their first upcoming review on it a few weeks ago. As they arrived in Denmark for the Car of the Year test, they started blogging about the whole event. It became clear that the BMW i3, the Renault Zoe and the Model S received the most attention from the journalists. In fact, a few days later their post was extremely enthusiastic. They said they could barely get hold of the Model S, as journalist and reps from other car companies were standing in line all the time to drive it. The 2 Model S they had were in constant use and everyone was gushing. In particular, they told a story about one conversation, where they were talking at the end of a day with other members of the jury about the cars. Someone asked the Totalcar journalists which car they liked the most so far. They said something like "You have to ask?!" and then everyone smiled, because they all knew it was the Model S. That was the car everyone was talking about.
So this morning they posted their full review on the car. Now these are total petrol heads, who normally make fun of EVs, so allow me to quote a few lines from the review:
"I think end of September 2013 is a turningpoint in my life... the Tesla Model S turned my carbon-hydrate burning worldview upside down.... if EVs will be like this, not only will I own one, but I will even enjoy it and only keep a petrol burning oldtimer for the weekends... it was impossible to run any range tests on the Tesla as journalists and reps from competitors were giving the key to each other… We were allowed 30 minutes with the car, but ended up taking it back after 50. This car is ingenious... Acceleration is like turning on a conventional light bulb. You hit the pedal and you immediately drive at 1000 kmh. It is frightening, unbelievable and amazing... it is Ferrari and Lambo territory... Even the brakes - which are usually awful in EVs - are almost perfect... steering is accurate and responsive... due to the low center of gravity we were unable to make the car roll... it is almost at the level of a BMW 5 series [the industry gold standard]... suspension and ride comfort are excellent... it beats every other car in practicality with the trunk and the frunk..."
They had an equally gushing 2,5 minute video review, featuring a subconscious "tesla grin" on the face of the journalist as he hit the pedal. They went on commenting how unbelievable it is that a "no name car company run by geeks produced something so perfect as their first car". They also had a podcast recently where they explained how they were all laughing as - after testing the Model S - they went back to test a diesel BMW, a car they once considered state of the art, and could not stand the noise it made. They said something like "it sounded like a bad sewing-machine and we could not understand how a company can have the audacity to sell something so shameful for such a price when you have a car like the Model S".
So, do "we" have a chance at snapping the Car of the Year award next March? If we did, it would make huge waves in the EU as this is "the" car award here. But you can never underestimate the lobby power of the likes of BMW, Mercedes or VW. However, having followed the blogs, podcasts and reviews of these 3 jurors over the past few weeks, understanding what conversations took place behind the scenes and how the EU press felt about the Model S, I would be extremely surprised if it was not one of the 7 finalists. It seems to me the European car journalists just had their eyes opened.
You can find the official page of the award here http://caroftheyear.org
The full list of the 31 cars in the race is:
BMW 4 Series
BMW i3
BMW X5
Citroen C4 Picasso
Ford EcoSport
Ford Kuga
Hyundai i10
Jaguar F-Type
Kia Carens (Rondo)
Range Rover Sport
Lexus IS
Maserati Ghibli
Mazda 3
Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Mitsubishi Space Star
Nissan Note
Opel Cascada
Peugeot 2008
Peugeot 308
Porsche Cayman
Renault Captur
Renault Zoe
Seat Leon
Skoda Octavia
Subaru Forester
Suzuki SX4
Tesla S
Toyota Auris
Toyota Corolla
Toyota RAV4