Field of 28 for 2019 carsales Car of the Year

A bumper field of 28 passenger cars and SUVs from 20 brands are the finalists for the 2019 carsales Car of the Year.

Priced from $19,990 to almost $130,000, the field is conveniently split almost 50:50 between conventional passenger vehicles and Australia’s favourites, SUVs.

In 2019, the carsales Car of the Year is proudly presented by Shell V-Power.

The winner of Australia’s number one consumer car award will be announced on November 12. On the same day, carsales and Shell V-Power will also host an opportunity for you to get up close with the winner and members of our judging team. Look out for details on this.

For 2019 the carsales Car of the Year presented by Shell V-Power has ramped up the safety requirements for entrants. AEB must be standard across the model range for vehicles to eligible. Other basic requirements include a price limit -- at least one variant in the range with an RRP of less than $250,000.

For carsales Car of the Year testing, the top-selling privately purchased variant of a model range is presented. During field testing, the finalists are examined against key criteria including: Dynamics and Safety; Innovation and Technology; Practicality and Presentation; and Cost of ownership.

This last important criteria examines factors such as value for money, retained value, warranty, after-sales support and projected cost of running and is curated and provided by RedBook.

In 2019, Hyundai and BMW top the field in terms of the number of finalists for carsales Car of the Year. The Korean and German brands will both have three models represented. Four other brands have more than one finalist.

To be eligible vehicles must be on sale by December 31, 2019 and be available for carsales’ local field testing. Vehicles on sale but not available for testing can be carried over to subsequent years.

The testing process whittles down the field to a final 10. Our 12-strong judging panel then selects a single 2019 carsales Car of the year winner plus two Highly Commended runners-up.

The finalists for the 2019 carsales Car of the Year proudly presented by Shell V-Power are (in alphabetical order):