Model sharing partnerships are nothing new - but this is the first time conjoined products cannot be separated. 

DECISION-making for determining the next winner of the national car of the year award will for the first time include consideration of two competing cars as one.

Eleven cars representing 10 brands have been selected as finalists for the 2024 edition of New Zealand Car of the Year, an annual accolade from the New Zealand Motoring Writers’ Guild that dates back to 1988.

Finalists are the Honda CR-V, Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia EV9, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, MG 3, Polestar 4, Subaru Solterra, Suzuki Swift, Toyota bZ4X and C-HR and Volvo’s EX30.

The bZ4X and Solterra being considered a single listing is a first for the Guild.

Model sharing partnerships are far from new but the decision in this case recognises that products that each represent as their brands’ first fully electric vehicle tilts here are especially closely connected.

The five-door SUV was developed by Toyota in collaboration with Subaru; the cars share a unified assembly line. 

Toyota is the primary engineer and builder; it also developed the e-TNGA platform. Subaru's main contribution was the off-road-tuned all-wheel drive, standard in the Solterra and optional in the bZ4X. 

“The car was a conjoined effort by these brands, each with its product line, which we find to be common for all but minor specification and styling amendments, so therefore, in our eyes, the two stand as one,” says Guild president Robert Barry.   

The overall selection spans small cars, luxury cars, SUVs, fully electric, hybrid, and pure-petrol choices, and price points from under $30,000 to six figures. 

Five fully battery-dedicated models feature, and another four fully embrace hybrid technology. The remaining two have both hybrid and pure petrol offerings within the range.

This shows that, despite reduced interest in electric vehicles on the sales charts over the past 12 months, the Guild sees battery-involved mobility becoming ubiquitous in passenger cars, Barry says.

“Whether it’s the fully electric experience, plug-ins, or self-contained hybrid systems so subtle that some drivers may not even know they are operating, we drive in an increasingly electric world,” he said in a media share. 

“That is being decided for us on a global scale.”   

As usual, this latest crop of finalists has been selected from a more comprehensive list of new models launched nationally in the past 12 months.

Opportunity for evaluation spans into early February; later that month the winner is announced live on TVNZ One’s Seven Sharp programme.

Guild members assess using a specified range of criteria: How the vehicle performs its intended role, its styling, interior design, and accommodation, fit, finish, and quality, ride and refinement, performance, road-holding and handling, value for money, active and passive safety, and environmental responsibility.

The winner will be the 38th to achieve a title currently held by MG’s MG4.