Electric Renault 5 / Alpine A290 are Car of the Year 2025, beating Kia EV3, Dacia Duster and more | Cars UK

The electric Renault 5 E-Tech and Alpine A290 were joint winners of the 2025 European Car of the Year announced at the Brussels International Motor Show.

It’s European Car of the Year time for 2025, with the winners from a shortlist revealed at the Brussels International Motor Show.

With relatively few non-ICE cars being launched as car makers try to get us to fall out of love with fossil-fuel cars, the shortlist was dominated by electric and electrically assisted cars, with the Renault 5 and Alpine A290 joint finalists, joined by the Alfa Romeo Junior, Citroen C3-eC3, Cupra Terramar, Dacia Duster, Hyundai Inster and Kia EV3.

Voted for by a panel of 60, the European Car of the Year Gong went to Renault – for the second year in a row – with a joint win for the Renault 5 E-Tech and its Alpine sibling the Alpine A290.

The R5, in particular, looks to be just the sort of small, and relatively affordable, EV buyers will flock to with its £23k starting price, delightful retro styling and 190-mile range, although you’ll probably want the bigger battery and bigger motor option starting at £27k. Almost bargains by EV norms.

Similarly, the Alpine A290 looks a promising performance take on the R5 for those who want more get-up-and-go, with up to 220bhp and 221lb/ft of torque in the GTS model, and range of 236 miles, but likely to cost over £30k when prices are announced.