The Peugeot 308 has been crowned the 2014 European Car of the Year. In doing so the family hatchback beat off stiff competition from the technological tour de force that is the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the Citroen C4 Picasso MPV (current Irish Car of the Year) and the BMW i3, which was crowned inaugural UK Car of the Year just last week.
With European judges seemingly favouring 'green' vehicles - having awarded the gong to the Nissan Leaf in 2011 and Opel Ampera in 2012 - the bookies favourite appeared to be the Tesla Model S and the car that Elon built did make it down to the final three with the i3 and 308, but in the end it was a comfortable win for Peugeot, racking up an unassailable 307 points to the i3's 223 and 216 for the Tesla.
Citroen's Picasso received 182 points, narrowly edging ahead of the Mazda3, which got 180 points. The Skoda Octavia racked up 172 leaving it two points ahead of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, which collected just 170 points.
Receiving the award, Maxime Picat, Director General of Automobiles Peugeot said: "With the new Peugeot 308, we were convinced that we had achieved a leap in concept, technology and quality and which would soon allow it a place on the podium for the category in Europe."
"The prestigious 2014 'Car of the Year' award, which I receive today on behalf of everyone at Peugeot who has contributed towards the development and launch of the award winning new 308, is the best confirmation of this."
Last year's winner was the Mk7 Volkswagen Golf, a car that the Peugeot 308 must now go on and beat in the showrooms.