Search News Car of the Year shortlist released The European Car of the year shortlist has been released and includes a range of vehicles from cheap new cars to upmarket saloons. The Alfa Romeo 159, Volkswagen Passat and many people's favourite, the BMW 3-Series, represent the high end of the market, while the cheap new Renault Clio and former winner the cheap new Toyota Yaris are there for the superminis. The line up is completed by the new Mazda5 compact MPV and a group of what have been dubbed 'economy cars', the Citroen C1, Peugeot 107 and Toyota Aygo. Buy A New Car And Save £1000s .... Request A New Car Price Should the C1, 107 or Aygo win, three cheap new car manufacturers will share the award for the first time. All three cars are mechanically identical following a three-way joint development programme by the firms and so will be treated as the same vehicle by the 58 strong panel of international motoring journalists. The shortlist has been compiled from all vehicles that are currently on sale in five or more European countries, and are capable of selling at least 5,000 units per year. The award will be announced next month and cars thought to have narrowly missed the list include the Suzuki Swift, Seat Leon and Peugeot 1007. 19th October 2005