The crème de la crème of European car journalists have made a shortlist for the 2023 European Car of the Year competition, demonstrating that they are a bunch of shockingly incompetent car journalists. What they did was look at buggies to compete with the T-Ford in the market a century ago — in a moment when every well informed market observer knew that the horse was being replaced by the engine.

Jeep Avenger — MHEV and BEV

Kia Niro — HEV, PHEV, and BEV

Kia Niro BEV

Nissan Ariya — BEV

Nissan Ariya

Peugeot 408 — FFV and PHEV

Peugeot 408

Renault Austral — MHEV and HEV

Renault Austral

Subaru Solterra/Toyota bZ4X — BEV

Toyota bZ4X

VW ID.Buzz — BEV

Volkswagen ID. Buzz

From the website of CarOfTheYear.org is the following quote: “In selecting the car of the year they use the following criteria: design, comfort, safety, economy, handling, performance, functionality, environmental requirements, driver satisfaction, and price. Technical innovation and value for money are particularly important factors.” (Bold emphasis added by this author.)

To summarize this in an easy-to-understand list, sorted by that particularly important factor:

1. Nissan Ariya — BEV
2. Subaru Solterra /Toyota bZ4X — BEV
3. VW ID.Buzz — BEV
4. Jeep Avenger — MHEV and BEV
5. Kia Niro — HEV, PHEV, and BEV
6. Peugeot 408 — FFV and PHEV
7. Renault Austral — MHEV and HEV

Only three can be called modern-architecture-car-technology models. Two models are based on transitional…