Irish Car of the Year
The Continental Tyres Irish Car of the Year award was established in 1978 based on similar Car of the Year awards. It is organised and judged by the Irish Motoring Writers Association (IMWA) and Association of Professional Motoring Press (APMP) a grouping of motoring journalists in Ireland. The award was initially sponsored by Semperit, but has been sponsored by Continental Tyres since it acquired Semperit in November 2009. The award has eleven category winners: Irish Car of the Year (overall winner), Compact Car of the Year, Medium Car of the Year, Large Car of the  Year, Compact SUV of the Year, Medium SUV of the Year, Large SUV of the Year, Green/Efficient Car of the Year, Performance/Luxury Car of the Year, Hot Hatchback of the Year, and MPV of the Year since 2019. Ford has won the competition eight times, with the Ford Mondeo winning the overall title the most times for an individual model. The winner for 2022 was the Kia EV6, making the manufacturer the back-to-back winner of the top title for the first time ever in the competition. The awards event is held each November in Dublin, though  the ceremony for 2022 was held on 11 February 2022 at the Aviva Stadium. Current rules. Cars are assessed by a jury of thirty four of the most experienced motoring journalists in Ireland. Each jury member road tests each car individually on the following criteria: Results. The first winner of the award was the Volkswagen Golf Diesel, which won the inaugural award in 1978. It debuted some four years after the regular Volkswagen Golf. The second winner, the Volkswagen Derby, was around 1½ years old when it won the award, as was the third winner, the Fiat Ritmo. The Datsun  Stanza received the award soon after its launch, while the next winner, the Ford Escort, had been on sale since September 1980. Mercedes won the award for the upcoming year in October 2016 for the first time in the forty-year history of the award. The Peugeot 3008 won the award in November 2017 for the following year, the second time the car has won the top award since 2010. The winner for 2022 was the Kia EV6, which also won the categories of Irish Compact Car and Irish Green/Efficient Car of the Year 2022. The Ford Mondeo is  the only model to have won the title three times, winning in 1994, 2008 and 2016. It was beaten into second place in November 2001 by the Renault Laguna, which went on to win the title. Opel celebrated two wins at the Irish Car of the Year Awards for 2022, with the Mokka being crowned Irish "Small SUV of the Year" 2022 and the Opel Vivaro-e took home the title Irish "Van of the Year" 2022.