After a year hiatus, the AA DRIVEN New Zealand Car of the Year is returning for 2021.

This will be the third year the AA partners with NZME’s DRIVEN and AA Motoring Services General Manager Jonathan Sergel says he’s looking forward to seeing what comes out on top for 2021.

“AA DRIVEN NZ COTY covers a full range of criteria for the vehicles including price and value, safety, equipment, features, technology and driving dynamics as well as performance and fuel economy. With the variety and quality of what’s on the market, and a new Clean & Green category, it has potential to be a tight competition.”

This year there are 10 different classes enabling the consumer analysis across a range of categories and models, including the return of the popular ‘People’s Choice’ where buyers can have their say in public voting, as well as an overall winner. However, the eligibility criteria for vehicles is slightly different this year.

In the past, the winners were selected from new cars of the previous 12 months. Editor of DRIVEN Dean Evans says, “In these Covid times, we’ve had to tailor the programmes to suit, so for this year it was important that we return from the hiatus of 2020 and delve into the best cars on sale, not just from the past 12 months.”

This new criteria means previous winners, like the 2019 AA DRIVEN NZ COTY winner, the Ford Focus, will be eligible in this year’s categories once again.

Dean says, “We’ve also introduced a new Clean & Green class, highlighting the best choices in the emerging BEV, PHEV and Hybrid categories which align with the Government’s Clean Car Programme.”

The finalists for each class will be released by DRIVEN over the upcoming weeks.

AA DRIVEN NZ Car of the Year classes:

1. Small SUV
2. Medium SUV
3. Large SUV
4. Passenger (sedan, hatch, wagon)
5. LCV (Light commercial vehicles, ute, van)
6. Clean & Green: BEV, PHEV, Hybrid
7. Sports & Performance
8. Luxury (over $100k)
9. AA Safety
10. People’s Choice

Plus the overall winner will be crowned the AA DRIVEN New Zealand Car of the Year for 2021.