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The new Citroen C3 Aircross has been voted as the Autobest 2018 - Best Buy Car of Europe. It saw off competition from the Ford Fiesta, Honda Civic, Opel Grandland X, SEAT Ibiza and Volkswagen T-Roc to clinch the prestigious title. It was the first year in Autobest history that six finalists were competing for the title. In the end, the Citroen won with an advantage of 121 points over its nearest rival, the Opel Grandland X. The Volkswagen T-Roc ranked third followed by the SEAT Ibiza, Ford Fiesta and Honda Civic.
A total of 31 members, including CompleteCar.ie's Road Test Editor, Dave Humphreys, each representing their own country make up the Autobest jury. For a car to become an Autobest winner, it must represent the best offering for most European customers. Price, service network, spare parts distribution and versatility are the most important criteria in the voting process.
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Three other award category winners were also announced, including Jaguar Land Rover being awarded the Companybest 2017 title. The prize is in recognition of the company's transformation under the leadership of Dr Ralf Speth and his management team. Since its acquisition by Tata Motors, Jaguar Land Rover has gone on to introduce a raft of new models to great success worldwide.
The Manbest 2017 award, which recognises management in the automotive industry is this year awarded to Mr Li Shufu, Founder and Chairman of the Geely Holding Group. Starting from a humble Chinese village, Chairman Li has gone on to build an impressive automotive group, integrating leading brands that include Volvo Cars, Proton, Lotus, London Taxi and launching a revolutionary approach of the car industry with Lynk & Co brand.
The world of motorsport is covered by the Sportbest 2017 award that this year goes to Fritz Enzinger, Vice President of the Porsche LMP1 programme. Austrian-born Enzinger was already a well-respected manager in motorsports. His career included stints in Formula One with Williams-BMW and Sauber-BMW before he was called up by Porsche to set up the Le Mans Prototype program in 2011. It was under his guidance that the Porsche 919 hybrid was developed, debuting in the 2014 World Endurance Championship and winning the final race in Sao Paulo in the first season. Porsche then proceeded to dominate the following WEC seasons, with three Le Mans 24 hours victories in 2015, 2016 and 2017, bringing Porsche's Le Mans overall wins to 19. Enzinger can be proud of 20 pole positions, 17 wins (7 doubles) and six world titles after 34 races of the 919 prototype.