Honda Prelude received by judges of the European Car of the Year accolade for 1988, finished third in a contest where the Peugeot 405 was the runaway winner and the Citroen AX came second. This was one of the best performances by a Japanese built or branded car until the Nissan Micra won the award five years later. In 1987, "Road & Track" published a test summary that shows the 1988 Honda Prelude 2.0Si 4WS outperforming every car of that year on the slalom, with a speed of , even besting exotics such as Porsche and Ferrari. For reference, the 1988 Chevrolet
European Car of the Year versions of which had been largely overlooked by the contest's judges. Fiat made in nine victories in the contest when it won the 2008 award with the 500 model, a retro-styled take on its iconic small car which had first been launched 50 years earlier. The next award went to a more traditional and mainstream offering, when Vauxhall/Opel won the award for only the third time with its Insignia. Volkswagen's Polo supermini had been around in several forms since its launch in the mid 1970s, but the all-new version launched in 2009 was the first generation of Polo to win