The results of the competition will be summed up by the end of 2022.

Japan Car of the Year (JCOTY) is an annual automotive award that has been held since 1980. The best of the best are selected by a jury, which includes Japanese journalists and market experts. In the current season 2022/2023, almost five dozen models will compete for the title. An important condition is that all of them entered the Japanese market from November 1, 2021 to October 31, 2022, and their circulation is at least 500 copies. At the end of November, a shortlist will be published, which will include 10 cars, and at the beginning of December the winners will be announced.

The long list includes Japanese companies: five Toyota models (Corona, Sienta, Noah/Voxy, bZ4X, Razie Hybrid), four Nissan models (Ariya, X-Trail, Sakura, aka Mitsubishi eK Cross EV, Fairlady Z) ), three Subaru (Solterra, Legacy Outback, WRX S4), two Lexus (NX, LX), two Daihatsu (Rocky HEV, Move Canvas), two Honda (Civic e:HEV/Civic Type R, StepWGN) and one Mazda CX -60.

Almost half of the list is occupied by European cars. These are four Audi models (A8, e-tron S, RS3, SQ2), three Mercedes-Benz (C-Class All Terrain, EQB and EQS), three Volkswagen (Golf R/Golf R Variant, Polo, T-Roc R) and three Renaults (Arkana, Captur E-Tech Hybrid, Lutecia/Megane E-Tech Hybrid).

Also, two BMW models (2-Series Coupe, iX), two Citroen (C4 / E-C4, C5X), two DS (4 and 9) and two Maserati (Levante GT, MC20) claim the title of the best model in Japan.

Volvo (C40 Recharge), Peugeot (308/308 SW), Land Rover (Range Rover), Ferrari (296 GTB) and Fiat (500e/500e Open) have one model each.

American models were also on the long list: Jeep Grand Cherokee L and Tesla Model Y. Only Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Nexo were selected from Korean cars.

Last year, the Nissan Note hatchback took home the title of best car in the Japanese market, competing for the title with the Toyota GR86/Subaru BRZ, Toyota Land Cruiser 300, Chevrolet Corvette and other finalists.

Due to Hurricane Ian in Florida, you can now see a large number of disconnected electric vehicles, some of which spontaneously ignited. The resulting fires are very difficult to extinguish.

Jimmy Patronis, Florida State Fire Marshal, tweeted:

“A huge number of electric vehicles have been disabled by Yen. When these batteries rust, fires start. This is a new challenge that our firefighters have not yet faced. At least on this scale."

In previous materials, we warned that it is already too dangerous to park in closed or underground parking lots, because electric cars have access to them.
Electric cars tend to self-ignite, such as this case with a Tesla car in China. The car self-ignites without even charging at the moment of self-ignition.
You can also see how quickly it covers the neighboring cars.
In not a few cases, all the cars in the parking lot are burned by such self-ignitions.