Euro NCAP has published its annual list of those cars that have performed best in their respective safety test categories. The organisation says star ratings cannot be compared directly between different categories of vehicles, so a ‘Best in Class’ is published showing which vehicles have performed better than their competitors.

To define the Best in Class, a calculation is made of the weighted sum of the scores in each of the four areas of assessment: Adult Occupant, Child Occupant, Pedestrian and Safety Assist. This sum is used as the basis for comparison of the vehicles. Cars qualify for ‘Best in Class’ based only on their rating with standard safety equipment. Additional ratings based on optional equipment are excluded.

The best performers in each category, as measured by the weighted sum of scores were:

• Safest supermini: Volkswagen Polo
• Safest small family car: Subaru XV and Subaru Impreza
• Safest small MPV: Opel/Vauxhall Crossland X
• Safest small SUV: Volkswagen T-Roc
• Safest large SUV: Volvo XC60
• Safest executive: Volkswagen Arteon