What's new? That's a big problem for some people these days, specifically motoring journalists who are members of the European Car of Year jury, writes Andrew Hamilton.
They are drawing up their list of contenders for the 2004 award, trying to assess whether models like the Citroen Pluriel, Opel Signum and Renault Scenic are new cars in their own right or merely derivatives of existing products like the C3, Vectra and Megane.
Car manufacturers assiduously compete to win the European accolade and some journalist jury members are pointing out that Pluriel, Signum and Scenic were all shown to them last year as part of the presentation of the C3, Vectra and Megane ranges for the 2003 award. These took place well ahead of international press launches.
There's already the precedent of the original Scenic winning because its MPV format seemed so innovative six years ago.
Now midi-MPVs are very much the norm in any model line-up, carrying the same engines and technologies as their C segment saloon and hatchback siblings.
A committee of the European Car of the Year jury will make a final decision on eligibility early next month.
Including Pluriel, Signum and Scenic, there are 33 contenders for European Car of the Year 2004.