Jaguar’s battery-powered SUV, the I-Pace has won a second major award of 2019 after being named the European Car of the Year at the Geneva Motor Show.

In a closely contested vote, the I-Pace edged out Renault’s Alpine sports coupe on a recount after both cars collected 250 votes.

It was the first time that the award has ever seen a tie in terms of overall votes since the competition started in 1964, it is also the first time that Jaguar have ever claimed the top prize.

The British company now add the European title to the the UK Car of the Year 209, which they collected on behalf of the I-Pace earlier in the month.

Speaking after collecting the European award, Jaguar’s director of design, Ian Callum said: “Wow, was that close or what? Thank you very much. I don’t understand why people make such a fuss over battery electric cars winning this award though; this is the future. It’s a whole new Jaguar on a whole new platform and it’s the most exiting car I’ve ever worked on.”

The European Car of the Year award is widely regarded as one of the top prizes of the year in the motor industry, and the voting was tight all evening. The votes are cast in the style of the Eurovision Song Contest, with each country announcing their results in alphabetical order. The UK were the last to announce their results, before which the Kia Ceed was leading the race.

The final result saw the Jaguar and Alpine tied, closely followed by the Ford Focus, the Citroen C5 Aircross, the Peugeot 508, the Kia Ceed and the Mercedes A-Class.

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