The new Ford Mondeo, introduced at the beginning of 2015, has been voted Continental Irish Car of the Year 2016 by the members of the Irish Motoring Writers’ Association. The announcement of the 39th Irish Car of the Year award was made last week at a ceremony in Dublin. The Ford Mondeo was the outright winner from an initial eligible entry of 43 new cars. The cars were divided into six categories to take account of the diverse nature of the modern car market and were voted on across a number of key areas that affect consumer choices. These included design, comfort, safety, economy, handling and performance, as well as driver satisfaction, value for money and technical innovation. There was a maximum of 20 points under each heading and the final scores were weighted based on the number of the judges who had driven the respective eligible cars.