Today, at the Brussels Motor Show, the new European Car of the Year 2026 was announced. After the title was proudly held by the Renault 5 E-Tech for a year, the Mercedes-Benz CLA continues to do so. It is a title awarded by an international jury of specialized journalists, 59 of them. The Car of the Year Award is celebrating its 63rd edition this year, and it did so by returning the premium brand to the top. The Mercedes-Benz CLA was crowned the best European car, beating six other competitors in the final. In alphabetical order, they were Citroën C5 Aircross, Dacia Bigster, Fiat Grande Panda, Kia EV4, Renault 4 and Škoda Elroq.
This year’s edition was more competitive than ever, considering that all the models in the finals had electrified features, while most of them are 100% electric. After all the points of the jury from 23 European countries were added up in a voting style similar to the Eurovision Song Contest, the winner was determined. Mercedes-Benz CLA won 320 points, ahead of Škoda Elroq, which reached 220 points, while Kia EV4 is in third place with 12 points less. The fourth position in terms of points went to the Citroën C5 Aircross, only one point behind the Korean representative. Fiat Grande Punto received around 200 points. Sixth position went to Dacia Bigster with 170 points, while Renault 4 E-Tech got 150 points.
The Mercedes-Benz CLA was the model that received the most first places from the judges, 22 of them, while the Citroën C5 Aircross was the favorite of 15 journalists in the jury. No one chose the Renault 4 as the winner this year, which is understandable given that last year’s winner was the Renault 5 E-Tech, which are technically quite similar, and the year before the victory was won by the Renault Scénic E-Tech.
The interesting thing for next year is that Croatia will finally get its representative in this prestigious jury. Croatia will be represented by Kristijan Tićak, who has been in automotive journalism for 23 years, and since 2008 he has been the editor-in-chief of the specialized magazine Auto motor i sport, and also the editor-in-chief of Motorevija magazine for another three years. In addition to Croatia, Slovakia also gets its representative, and it will be Rastislav Chvala.