It is the first time an electric car has taken the title.
The leading motor journalists of Ireland convened at the Irish Car Awards ceremony last night (Thursday 7 November) in the Westin Hotel in Dublin.
Last year's Irish Car of the Year award was won by the Volvo XC40, and outside of the car awards this year, the joint entry of Citroen Berlingo / Opel Combo Cargo / Peugeot Partner was voted as the Continental Tyres Irish Van of the Year for 2020.
As for the car awards themselves, the individual category winners were as follows:
- Continental Tyres Irish Compact Car of the Year: Kia e-Soul
- Continental Tyres Irish Medium Car of the Year: Toyota Corolla
- Continental Tyres Irish Large Car of the Year: Peugeot 508
- Continental Tyres Irish Compact SUV of the Year: Volkswagen T-Cross
- Continental Tyres Irish Medium SUV of the Year: Audi Q3
- Continental Tyres Irish Large SUV of the Year: SEAT Tarraco
- Continental Tyres Irish Hot Hatchback of the Year: Ford Focus ST
- Continental Tyres Irish Performance / Luxury Car of the Year: Alfa Romeo Stelvio QV
- Continental Tyres Irish Green / Efficient Car of the Year: Kia e-Soul
- Continental Tyres Irish MPV of the Year: Peugeot Rifter
The winner of each category was then put forward for the overall Irish Car of the Year 2020 title, which went to the Kia e-Soul.
Joint-Chairman of the Irish Car of the Year Committee, Anthony Conlon said: "Congratulations to the Kia team on a very worthy win, I am sure that the Irish Car of the Year title will be a huge boost for the e-Soul during the busy January car sales period."
Joint-Chairman of the Irish Car of the Year Committee, Bob Flavin said: "This is the first time that an electric car has won Irish Car of the Year, a real sign of things to come I think. Regardless of its fuel type, the e-Soul came out as the clear winner and was hugely popular with my motoring journalist colleagues."
Tom Dennigan of Continental Tyres said about the awards: "The advice of the Irish Car of the Year jurors is instrumental in helping consumers here to make sense of the ever-growing complexity of the cars we drive – both from the point of view of the increased fuel options and the myriad of new safety features and technologies that are found on even the entry level models of all brands."
