Peugeot 208 wins ECOTY

The new Peugeot 208 has just toppled the Volkswagen Polo by winning the European Car of the Year award.

Available in Europe with petrol or full EV power but yet to be confirmed for Australia, Peugeot's latest supermini comfortably snared the award ahead of its nearest rival, the Tesla Model 3.

The award was due to be announced at the cancelled Geneva motor show, and it was surprisingly still awarded inside the empty halls of the city’s Palexpo exhibition centre.

"We love cars, and we recognize the Car of the Year jury is made up of experts, so we are honoured to win,” Peugeot chief Jean-Philippe Imperato said.

“It's a big surprise and a big pleasure for us."

In a continuation of last year’s trend, in which Jaguar’s I-PACE EV took out the award, the top four finishers in this year’s COTY are all offered with electrified powertrains.

The top three finishers were the 208 on 281 points, the Model 3 (242) and Porsche’s all-electric Taycan (222).

Fourth place went to the Renault Clio from Peugeot’s fierce domestic rival. It's due here this year and is also offered with either petrol or electric powertrains.

The rest of the top seven included the upcoming Ford Puma and the latest Toyota Corolla and BMW 1 Series.

The ECOTY award began in 1964 and has 60 European-based journalists from 23 countries as judges, with Peugeot last winning it with the 3008 in 2017 and the 308 in 2014.