The field of COTY 2019 in numbers

The COTY 2019 field was one of the smaller in recent years, but no less competitive. Vying for glory were 24 of the best new cars released in the prior 12 months (and a few which haven’t launched locally yet), with 47 variants presented for testing.

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All those vehicles collectively tipped the scales at just over 76 tonnes. The lightest was the Alpine A110, while Porsche’s Cayenne E-Hybrid was the most in need of a fad diet to shave some kilos from the waistline. We even weighed every car present to see which manufacturers were most economical with the truth regarding kerb weights.

All budgets were covered this year, with the field ranging in pricing from the entry-level Volkswagen Polo which cost $17,990, all the way to the Bentley Continental GT, which wore an eye-watering $422,600 sticker price and had over $117K of options tacked on.

Not only was it the most expensive car present, but the Bentley was the quickest, with a claimed 0-100km/h of 3.7 seconds. It didn’t record the highest mid-corner speed on track though. That honour went to another Brit, which narrows the field significantly.

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COTY 2019 also bucked industry trends, with more sedans and coupes present than SUVs, with just 10 high-riding models taking part.

Although local manufacturing has ceased, two of the contenders (Chevrolet Camaro and Holden Commodore) were in some way fettled by Australian workers.

We keep being told electrification is the way of the future, and while Australia always looks likely to be an EV holdout, COTY is starting to show this trend. Of the 24 models present, four included a hybrid, plug-in, or fully electric variant.

At the head of the electrified charge were the Jaguar I-Pace and Hyundai Ioniq, both of which run without a single drop from the bowser.

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Some manufacturers increased their chances of victory by entering more than one model, with Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Holden, and Hyundai represented multiple times in the field.

Those of you that follow Wheels on Instagram would know that testing for Car of the Year 2019 has already been run. The winner will be announced at the Australian Motoring Awards in Melbourne on January 30.

If you want to know what it takes to organise the biggest motoring award in the country, we have a behind-the-scenes highlight featured on our Instagram page.

While the seven judges were hard at work assessing every vehicle in the field for COTY 2019, there was also a substantial support crew ensuring everything ran smoothly. The photography team was hard at work capturing tens of thousands of frames to ensure the magazine pages are filled with lush shots, while a healthy video team ensured the television product looks as schmick as Editor Inwood’s groomed facial hair.

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In total it took a team of 21 people to run COTY 2019, but only Inwood knows who wins… for now. How about letting us know your nominations for the podium? Get it right and you can bask in the rosy glow of satisfaction that you can do in seconds what it took us a week to figure out.

Below is a full list of contenders:

• Alfa Romeo Stelvio
• Alpine A110
• Audi A8
• Bentley Continental
• Chevrolet Camaro
• Citroen C3
• Ford Focus
• Holden Acadia
• Holden Commodore
• Hyundai Ioniq
• Hyundai Santa Fe
• Jaguar I-Pace
• Lexus LS
• Mazda CX-8
• Mercedes-Benz A-Class
• Mercedes-Benz CLS
• Peugeot 5008
• Porsche Cayenne
• Skoda Karoq
• Subaru Forester
• Toyota Camry
• Toyota Corolla
• Volkswagen Polo
• Volvo XC40