German manufacturer fends off competition from BMW, Citroën, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Renault to win the prestigious COTY award.

The Volkswagen Passat has been named the 2015 Car of the Year at the Geneva Motor Show.

The German car topped a shortlist of seven vehicles, beating the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer, Citroën C4 Cactus, Ford Mondeo, Mercedes-Benz C-class, Nissan Qashqai and Renault Twingo.

The award is decided by a jury made up of prominent motoring journalists from across Europe, including Autocar UK's head of video and features Matt Prior and senior contributing writer Andrew Frankel.

The jury consists of 58 members, representing 22 European countries. National representation on the jury is related to the size of the country's car market and its importance in car manufacturing. France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain each have six members, while other countries have proportionally fewer.

Volkswagen's Passat received 340 points from the judges, comprehensively beating its rivals.

The Citroën C4 Cactus garnered 248 points, ahead of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class on 221. Fourth was the Ford Mondeo with 203, with the Nissan Qashqai (160), BMW 2 Series Active Tourer (154) and Renault Twingo (124) rounding out the scoring.

The Passat succeeds the Peugeot 308 as the Car of the Year.

“We are extremely proud of this accolade," said Prof. Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen, at the prize-giving ceremony in Geneva. "In the new Passat, we have again succeeded in developing a car that sets the standards for its class in terms of technology and quality. This honour is a tremendous confirmation for the work of our engineers, designers and the entire team. The new Passat shows that the Volkswagen brand has the right answers to the challenges of our time."

Heinz-Jakob Neusser, member of the Board of Management Volkswagen Brand for the Development Division, received the award for the new Passat: "We are delighted by the honour of the ‘Car of the Year 2015’. This accolade has a very special significance for us because it is awarded by independent international trade journalists. In addition, the honour is known to have a high standing for our customers."