{"id":76689,"date":"2025-10-31T09:49:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T08:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.autotrade.ie\/?p=76689"},"modified":"2025-10-31T13:54:02","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T12:54:02","slug":"seven-cars-in-running-for-2026-european-car-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autotrade.ie\/index.php\/seven-cars-in-running-for-2026-european-car-of-the-year\/76689","title":{"rendered":"Seven cars in running for 2026 European Car of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The seven finalists in the running for the 2026 European Car of the Year award have today been confirmed.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The 60 jury members, from 23 European countries, had to choose from 35 models those they consider most likely to win the continental award.<\/p>\n<p>They are: the Citroen C5 Aircross, Dacia Bigster, Fiat Grande Panda, Kia EV4, Mercedes-Benz CLA, Renault 4, and Skoda Elroq.<\/p>\n<p>The winner will be announced on 9th January during the Brussels International Motor Show.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the Renault 5\/Alpine A290 took the continental title after winning the final vote against six other contenders: Alfa Romeo Junio, Citroen C3\/eC3, Cupra Terramar, Dacia Duster, Hyundai Inter, and Kia EV3.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.autotrade.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/77.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"655\" height=\"458\" class=\" wp-image-76690 aligncenter\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.autotrade.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/77.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.autotrade.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/77-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.autotrade.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/77-800x560.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.autotrade.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/77-768x538.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 655px) 100vw, 655px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The seven finalists in the running for the 2026 European Car of the Year award have today been confirmed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":76690,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1001,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-news","category-news","cat-1001-id","cat-1-id","has_thumb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - 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