Hyundai Motor’s IONIQ 6 has won the 2023 World Car of the Year (WCOTY) title, as well as the World Car Design of the Year and World Electric Vehicle awards. The Hyundai Motor Group also collected another award for the Kia EV6 GT which won the World Performance Car title.
The IONIQ 6 – also known as the ‘Electric Streamliner’ – beat the other finalists which included the BMW X1/iX1 and the Kia Niro for the overall title. The IONIQ 6 was one of 21 original vehicles that were in contention for the 2023 WCOTY awards in the 19th year of the event.
This is the second consecutive triple win for the Hyundai Motor Group as the IONIQ 5 was last year’s winner in the same three categories.
Continuing its collection of awards, the Hyundai IONIQ 5 has been voted as the 2022 World Car of the Year, besides also winning the 2022 World Electric Vehicle of the Year and the 2022 World Car Design of the Year awards in the same event. The battery electric vehicle (BEV), which entered the market last year, was chosen from an initial list of 28 candidates, and then from 3 finalists. This is the second consecutive year an EV has won the title and the fourth EV in the event’s history.
To be eligible for the overall title, vehicles must be produced in a volume of least 10,000 units per year, priced below the luxury level in their primary markets, and on sale in at least 2 major markets on at least 2 continents at some time between January 1, 2021 and March 30, 2022.
The jury of consisted of 102 automotive journalists from 33 countries who began assessing candidates from August 19, 2021. The preliminary assessments ended with 3 finalists being selected which reflected the industry trend towards electric vehicles: besides the Hyundai, were the Ford Mustang Mach-E and Kia EV6.
For the World Car Design of the Year award, a design panel consisting of 6 highly respected design experts was asked to first review each candidate, and they then established a shortlist of recommendations for the jurors’ final vote in February.
The IONIQ 5 received a total of 815 points covering Occupant Environment, Performance, Value, Safety, Environment, Market Significance, Emotional Appeal and Innovation. The EV6, which is the Kia version of the same car, scored 808 points, while the Mustang received 773 points. A closer look at the scores shows that the winner could have been either one as the Kia also scored higher points in some areas such as market significance and performance. But whichever won, it was still a victory for the Hyundai Motor Group which both brands are in. In addition, the 2022 World Car Person of the Year was Luc Donckerwolke, Executive Vice-President, Chief Creative Officer, Hyundai Motor Group.
“We are truly honoured to receive these prestigious awards, which recognize the talent and hard work of all our people and business partners at Hyundai Motor Company. Our vision is to enable Progress for Humanity, and this endorsement of our approach will serve to embolden our commitment to make this vision a reality,” said Jaehoon Chang, President & CEO of Hyundai Motor Company.
“IONIQ 5 represents a pivotal achievement for us as we pioneer a new generation of smart mobility solutions with its innovative E-GMP platform technologies, exceptional performance, and disruptive approach to design and space. Our game-changing EV has made a strong impact on increasingly eco-conscious and demanding consumers around the world, and its success supports the acceleration of electrification of the automotive industry. The pace of change at Hyundai will continue unabated through the rest of 2022 as we will soon be adding to our award-winning IONIQ range,” he added.
The winners of the other categories were as follow:
World Luxury Car: Mercedes-Benz EQS
World Performance Car: Audi e-tron GT
World Urban Car: Toyota Yaris Cross
World Car Design of the Year: Hyundai IONIQ 5
World Electric Vehicle of the Year: Hyundai IONIQ 5
The Volkswagen ID.4 becomes the third all-electric model to be chosen as World Car of the Year (WCOTY) in the 2021 edition of the awards. 93 international journalists from 28 countries that make up the World Car Awards jury panel chose the EV, giving the German carmaker its fifth WCOTY overall award since 2009 (the WCOTY started in 2005).
This year’s winner was chosen from an initial entry list of 24 vehicles from all over the world, then a short list of three finalists as announced on March 30, 2021. The Top Three in the World finalists for 2021 were the Honda e, Toyota Yaris and Volkswagen ID.4.
Vehicles eligible for the World Car of the Year award must be produced in volumes of at least 10,000 units/year; must be priced below the luxury-car level in their primary markets; and must be ‘on sale’ in at least two major markets, on at least two separate continents, between May 1, 2020 and May 1, 2021.
New award for EVs in 2022
The 2022 awards season and the 18th edition of the Road to the World Car Awards journey will officially begin at the New York International Auto Show on August 19. A new highlight of the 2022 awards program will be the debut of the World Electric Vehicle of the Year award. This new award, which supersedes the World Green Car award, is intended to recognize, support and celebrate the global transition to electrically-powered vehicles that is now underway and the efforts of automakers around the world in developing these climate-conscious vehicles.
Jaguar Land Rover has racked up another accolade and this time, its for the highly sought after F-PACE. It was awarded World Car of the Year and World Design Car of the Year 2017 by a panel of jurors. The mild off-roader has been tasked with leading Jaguar’s foray into uncharted waters for the UK based automaker, which is the SUV market.
Prior to the introduction of the F-PACE, Jaguar, since its inception, has never produced an SUV before. And as such, getting it right on your first attempt, is a remarkable feat that deserves praise. Like the rest of the current line-up the SUV shares the same design language utilised by the XF and XE cars. The prominent honeycomb grille occupies most of the front fascia and are complemented by the equally wide projector headlamps.
Overall, the proportions of the exterior have been well thought out and designed with respectable attention to detail. As a result, its no surprise that Jag walked home with both awards. And to commemorate the win, the UK representatives of the panel of jurors visited Jaguar Land Rover’s Solihull plant, the location where the F-PACE is being produced.
Steve Fowler, World Car of the Year Juror and Editor in Chief at Auto Express said, “It’s been wonderful to present these awards to the Solihull workforce. The Jaguar F-PACE looks great, looks sporty and it looks like a Jaguar should. It’s built brilliantly.”
Jaguar Land Rover CEO, Dr. Ralf Speth and Solihull Operations Director Nigel Blenkinsop were handed the awards by World Car of the Year. Later, Blenkinsop paid tribute to the Solihull workforce who were responsible for the manufacture of the F-PACE as well as contributing to it being the fastest selling Jaguar of all time.
The F-PACE will face some serious competition as it goes up against more established models from Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi. However, based on past experiences, Jaguar has managed to carve out a section of the market due to its unique styling, sporty attributes and general appeal of the brand. We shall have to wait and see if it’s looks are able to win over many potential buyers and provide the brand with better sales numbers.
As many of you may already know, the new Tiguan was recently launched in Malaysia, you can find the full article here. Today’s news is once again related to the Tiguan, but this time, this particular VW is one of the three finalists which are in the running to win the “World Car of the Year” award.
The Tiguan is one the German automaker’s most important models currently in its portfolio. Launched in 2007, the name plate has gone on to represent a vehicle that is well regarded around the world. The latest generation Tiguan is available to purchase in 170 different markets and to this day, 3.5 million Tiguans have been sold.
VW has been able to give the Tiguan mild-mannered off-road capabilities while still retaining decent comfort levels and solid German build quality. And whether that’s enough to win the “World Car of the Year” in 2017 remains to be seen, but if you are interested to know more about the VW Tiguan, visit the manufacturer’s local website for further details.