The Volkswagen Polo has been voted Best Car of the Half Century as part of the Best Cars of the Year – The New Car World Championships, but it’s a bit of a baffling title to earn once you start to look into it.
If you’ve never heard of ‘Best Cars of the Year – The New Car World Championships’ then you’re in good company, because we hadn’t either until now.
But it’s a thing, apparently, and its organisers recently voted the Volkswagen Polo the Best Car of the Half Century… which sounds amazing until you learn that the same honour was given to the Volkswagen Golf last year.
The catalyst in each case appears to be that both models, the Golf in 2024 and the Polo in 2025, were each celebrating their 50th anniversaries during those respective victory years.
Cynics might wonder if it’s some kind of Volkswagen-backed PR stunt but the judging panel for the award is claimed to have comprised independent world-renowned car designers, engineers, auto industry figureheads, motorsport personalities, journalists, broadcasters, media professionals, vehicle retailers, automotive consultants, motor club chiefs and motoring event organisers.
Founder of the Best Cars of the Year – The New Car World Championships is automotive journalist Mike Rutherford, who was also one of the judges.
We’d love to ask him how both the Golf and the Polo can be voted Best Car of the Half Century, but our Retro Rides mobile plan won’t stretch to such largesse. A quick browse of the Best Cars website costs nothing, however, and does shed some light on the mystery.
“Best Cars of the Year (Best COTY) is an unaffiliated, not-for-profit organisation that devised and runs the New Car World Championships,” it claims.
“At the heart of the project sits a genuinely unique, hand-picked judging panel that votes for (or against), then announces the latest World Champion vehicles for consumers across the globe.
“They collectively operate under an unrestrictive, totally democratic system that enables them to cast their votes for any new car or car-like quadricycle regardless of its retail price and production volumes.”
A deeper dive into the website reveals that the awards are yet another new car award – something the world desperately needed – with the 2024/25 New Car World Champion being the Renault 5.
There are also categories for Best Electric Car, Best Car Line-Up, Best Sports Car, Best Bargain Car, Best Value Premium Car, Best Affordable Hybrid, Best Car Company, and, wait for it, Best Car Of The Half Century.
Working backwards and following the clues likes an addled Sherlock Holmes, it appears there’s quite the caveat as the Best Car Of The Half Century gong resets each year, allowing the VW Golf to win the period 1974 to 2024, and the VW Polo to take out the period 1975 to 2025.
But enough of our clumsy sleuthing, here’s how Mike Rutherford explained the Polo’s win: “It’s the most consistently credible supermini of the past 50 years and has repeatedly hit the sweet spot in terms of understated design, overall dimensions, build quality, competitive retail pricing, efficiency and low standing and running costs. It’s super strong on overall affordability, durability and longevity.”
Compelling stuff, but Mike wasn’t done, adding: “It’s fair to say that since the birth of the Mk1 version in 1975, it has grown in size, stature, quality and market relevance. No longer is the Polo a basic supermini to be driven on tight, slow streets in busy towns and cities across the world. At more than four metres long in its current Mk6 guise, it’s more of a small, credible, borderline premium family hatchback. No wonder it remained one of the top 20 best-selling cars in Europe last year.”
Hear, hear! Well done Mike, well done Volkswagen, and well done Polo.
It’s going to seem an eternity until next year’s winner is announced, but we promise we’ll be all over the news like a cheap suit.
