European Car of the Year 2007: The Ford S-Max has won the prestigious European car of the year 2007 title.
In an extremely tight competition and with a shortlist of eight cars, the S-Max received 235 points from the 58 jury members, just two points ahead of the new Opel Corsa.
Of all the car awards dished out over turkey and ham dinners across the Continent, the Car of the Year in Europe title remains the most prestigious.
Comprising 58 jurors from 22 nations across Europe, including representatives from Russia to Portugal and from Turkey to Finland.
And yes, yours truly from Ireland.
What makes this competition different from the rest - competitions where votes are cast in secret and without explanation - is that the vote is open and jurors must justify their decisions.
Starting with 41 new cars launched this year, a shortlist of eight was created after several test events, most notably a gathering in northern Denmark - organised by the Scandinavian jury members - where the cars are tested back to back and on an old airfield, where they undergo stability tests.
It was during this testing several years ago that problems with stability in the Mercedes A-Class were first spotted and later rectified by the company.
From the 41 cars on test, eight were shortlisted this year and put to the vote.
Jury members have 25 points to award to the shortlisted eight cars, with a maximum of 10 points to any one car.
This year the winner received points from 57 of the 58 Jury members, though only six gave the S-Max their top score. However it secured several high-point secondary scores.
Some jury members felt the contenders for the 2007 title were good or merely competent but not exceptional, with no car deserving or meriting the maximum 10 points. Only four jury members awarded any entrant the maximum score.
Of the other shortlisted cars, third place went to the new Citroën C4 Picasso, a seven-seat people carrier, which received the top scores of all the French jury members and finished with 222 points.
There has always been suggestions that the Car of the Year prize has been influenced by national voting, rather like the Eurovision.
While the French loyalty to the C4 Picasso could seem worthy of a song contest, the Italians didn't fall into this system and the Fiat Grande Punto was not rated by its home voters.
Fourth place went to the Skoda Roomster with 189 points, fifth to the Honda Civic with 148 points, sixth the Peugeot 207 with 144 points, seventh the Volvo C70 with 141 points and eighth place went to the Fiat Grande Punto with 138 points.
It is Ford's fifth win since the title was launched in 1964. The US firm's first success was scored in 1981 with the Escort: its other victories came in 1986 with the Scorpio, in 1994 with the Mondeo and in 1999 with the Focus.
Recent winners of the European title include the Renault Clio, Toyota Prius and Fiat Panda.
While small and family cars invariably do well, it's not exclusively mainstream models that reach the top.
Porsche was awarded the title in 1978 while in 1990 the Citroën XM beat off competition from second placed Mercedes SL.
As Ford walks away with the prize, it is no doubt eyeing a potential double with the arrival next year of the new Mondeo.
It will be up against some stiff competition, however.
Next year's entrants will include the new Toyota Auris, the Lexus LS460, BMW's new X5, Kia's new C'eed, Skoda's new Fabia and Audi's new A5. And that's just a handful of participants.
For now the day belongs to Ford and its S-Max. It might not have changed the world of family motoring, but it's certainly more fun to drive than its competitors.
The official awards ceremony will take place in Amsterdam on January 22nd.