Last bestowed with the award in 2002 in its 307 guise, the 308 received 307 points from the 58 jury members, gaining top points from 22 jurors.

Peugeot’s compact car beat off rivals including electric cars, the BMW i3 (223 points) and Tesla S (216), which came in second and third. Out of the rest of the seven nominees were the Citroën C4 Picasso (182), Mazda3 (180), Skoda Octavia (172) and Mercedes S-Class (170).

Produced in Sochaux, the brand's historic home in Eastern France, the new 308 was launched in Europe during the last four months of 2013 and in the UK in January this year; production and sales in China, the biggest automobile market in the world, will start early in 2015.

From the start of spring, the new 308 range will be expanded by the introduction of a second body style: the 308 SW estate, which makes its debut at the Geneva Motor Show.

Receiving the award from Hakan Matson, the president of the jury, Maxime Picat, director general of Automobiles Peugeot, said: ‘With the new PEUGEOT 308, we were convinced that we had achieved a leap in concept, technology and quality and which would soon allow it a place on the podium for the category in Europe. The prestigious 2014 ‘Car of the Year' award, which I receive today on behalf of everyone at PEUGEOT who has contributed towards the development and launch of the award winning new 308, is the best confirmation of this.’