Car of the Year 2010: the shortlist

The 2010 Car Of The Year award will be decided in January but the shortlist has just been announced.

To qualify for the competition cars must be on sale in at least five European countries and sell more than 5,000 examples a year. But when MSN last looked at the contenders some of them hadn't even launched!

That included the Vauxhall Astra, revealed at Frankfurt and - as expected - on the shortlist and in with a shout of winning. And if it does that'll be two years in a row for Vauxhall, the Insignia winning the 2009 prize. The Volkswagen Polo is another strong contender that hadn't actually been launched when we last looked at the contenders for the prize back in the summer. Now on sale, it's been getting strong reviews.

With the contenders whittled down to just seven, the 59 jurors - made up of motoring pundits from across Europe - will each decide how to distribute their respective 25 points and pick the winner. Each juror must choose at least five cars from the list, before apportioning their points accordingly.

Last year the Insignia won by just a single point.

For the full list on the MSN website click here...

source: MSN Cars