2020 carsales Car of the Year starts here

Australia’s premier automotive consumer award will go ahead in 2020 despite the challenges presented by the global pandemic.

carsales Car of the Year, proudly presented by Bingle in 2020, recognises excellence in the new-vehicle market and celebrates just one winner from every new passenger model released in Australia.

To determine the 2020 carsales Car of the Year, a multi-stage judging process will whittle down a field of up to 30 contenders to a shortlist of 10 finalists, and one overall winner (based on strict eligibility criteria listed below).

“From hatchbacks, city cars and desert sleds to the family favourite and fast and furious, our carsales experts drive and review hundreds of vehicles from around the world each year. Only the very best makes it to the carsales Car of the Year judging,” said carsales Editor-in-Chief, Mike Sinclair.

carsales will detail its COTY contenders throughout October. Each contender is scored via expert opinion and data generated by automotive data specialist, RedBook.com.au. Key factors including cost to purchase, own, insure and run are all considered.

In a departure for 2020, the top 10 finalists for carsales Car of the Year, proudly presented by Bingle, will be revealed in mid-November. Back-to-back testing to determine the winner will take place once movement restrictions have eased in Victoria and NSW.

“This year’s event roll-out will be a little different as we adapt to the current climate, however we are excited to get judging underway to determine this year’s finalists,” said Sinclair.

Once again, however, this year’s carsales Car of the Year will be decided by a combination of RedBook.com.au data and safety system bonus points, plus expert judges’ scores based on evaluation across categories including safety, technology, design, innovation, dynamics, comfort, practicality, quality and presentation.

Basic eligibility rules require that all vehicles must be series-production models available via dealers or a wholesale distribution chain. For consideration, each vehicle must be substantially updated or a new variant within this calendar year, on sale prior to December 31 and available for field testing.

If a vehicle is not available for evaluation, we reserve the right to include it in subsequent carsales Car of the Year testing. This ensures that cars that have been launched but are not available for our test timetable can be included in later year(s).

Once again, key eligibility requirements include the fitment of autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and a reversing camera as standard across their range. At least one variant in the range must be priced below $250,000.