The digital selection came first, then the contestants got to the point: Two weeks ago, a leading selection of German-market motor journalists took a close look at the five most promising new releases on the German market. And the Porsche Taycan took the crown.
The contenders had to be new – and sold with a starting price around EUR 100,000, in order to exclude exotics. The cars were rated according to their merits in each segment.
And they were mostly represented in the Top Five: BMW sent the 3 Series, available as a sedan and station wagon, with diesel, petrol and plug-in hybrid drive. The Porsche Taycan, of course, is fully electric, it starts at just over EUR 100 000, but a significantly less inexpensive entry-level model is coming. The Peugeot 208 and Opel Corsa are closely related, but their styling design, chassis tuning and user interface differs strongly. And the Mazda 3 comes with sensational design in two body shapes and very innovative gasoline and diesel engines. Nota bene: No SUV was selected to compete among the Top Five.
The extensive road drives took part on routes of the historic “Vorderpfalz-Rallye” and on unlimited Autobahnen, relentlessly revealing the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors. It turned out that the Porsche Taycan offers an almost perfect driving experience, with driving characteristics that are spread significantly according to the selected driving mode. Still, the BMW 3-series came in a close second.
The Porsche Taycan is the second EV to win the prize: Last year, the Jaguar I-Pace emerged at the helm, just ahead of the Volkswagen Touareg, Audi A6, Peugeot 508 and Hyundai Nexo.
When presented the award, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said: “We are very proud that we were able to convince this top-notch expert jury with the Taycan and were awarded the German Car of the Year 2020 Award for the best new car in Germany. The award, once again, confirms that we have taken the right path with our strategy of putting a real Porsche on the road, even with electric drive. ”
Incidentally, the individual results reveal that the Taycan convinced the jury above all with its design, as well as chassis and powertrain performance; it excelled in the area of the classic sports car criteria. Environmental aspects played a minor role.
