Thirteen cars are in the running to be named UK Car of the Year 2018, after the list of best-in-class winners was announced.
Following the first round of judging, which picked category winners ranging from Best Supermini to Best Performance, the chosen cars will now compete to be named as the overall winner, to be announced on 23 February.
A total of 12 manufacturers have cars in the running, including BMW with two – the 5 Series as Best Executive, and the Touring version as Best Estate. Peugeot and Lexus picked up their first category wins at the UK Car of the Year Awards, with the 3008 named Best Family Car and the LC winning Best Coupe.
Mazda – overall winner in 2016 with the MX-5 – saw the folding hard-top MX-5 RF named as Best Cabriolet. The Volkswagen Group also enjoyed success, with the Seat Ibiza winning Best Supermini, the Volkswagen Golf named Best Small Hatch and the Skoda Kodiaq voted Best Large Crossover.
The Citroen C3 Aircross won Best Small Crossover and the Volvo XC60 won Best Medium Crossover.
Rolls-Royce made it a hat-trick of wins in the Best Luxury category with the Phantom, while at the sportier end of the market there was a strong Korean showing, with first-time winner Kia taking Best Performance for its Stinger and the Hyundai i30N winning Best Hot Hatch.
The awards, established in 2014, are supported by Cox Automotive and the jury is made up of 27 leading motoring journalists, including BusinessCar editor Debbie Wood.