Comprising 100 automotive journalists from 32 countries, the World Car of the Year jury has been busy these past few weeks, as they had to further trim down the list of the World Car Awards to only three for each of the six categories.
For the most coveted medal, that of the World Car of the Year, the BMW X1/ iX1, Hyundai Ioniq 6, and Kia Niro will battle it out, having prevailed over the Alfa Romeo Tonale, BMW 2 Series Coupe, Honda HR-V/ZR-V, Mazda CX-60, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Nissan Ariya, and Nissan Z.
In the World Electric Vehicle category, the semi-finalists included the BMW i7, Genesis GV60, Hyundai Ioniq 6, Kia Niro EV, and Lucid Air. Among these, the BMW i7, Hyundai Ioniq 6, and Lucid Air were selected for the next leg of the awards. The BMW 7 Series/i7, Genesis G90, and Lucid Air are fighting each other in the World Luxury Car category that left the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport behind.
Kia’s EV6 GT, Nissan’s Z, and Toyota’s GR Corolla are the finalists in the World Performance Car category, which also included the BMW M4 CSL and the Porsche 911 GT3 RS in the previous leg. The World Urban Car finalists are the Citroen C3, ORA Funky Cat/Haomao, and Volkswagen Taigo/Nivus, and the Hyundai Ioniq 6, Range Rover, and Lucid Air have prevailed over the Cadillac Lyriq, and Nissan Z in the World Car Design of the Year.
As for the World Car Person of the Year, the trophy went to SangYup Lee, the Executive Vice President and Head of Hyundai and Genesis Global Design Center. Lee’s work that granted him this award was for some of his designs applied to different vehicles that were introduced in 2022, like the new Kona, Ioniq 6, and N Vision 74 Concept. In addition to these, SangYup Lee left his mark on other cars over the years, like the Bentley Bentayga, Continental GT, Stingray Corvette Concept, Cadillac Sixteen, and fifth-gen Chevy Camaro.
The jurors won’t be resting just yet, as they have to decide which cars will sit on the top step of the podium in the six categories of the World Car of the Year awards for 2023. The big winners will be announced on April 5, during the New York International Auto Show, and they will be presented with new versions of the trophy. Created by Ian Callum, these were made using “advanced additive manufacturing techniques.”
The famous designer stands behind some iconic models, like the Aston Martin DB9, Jaguar C-X75, Nissan R390, and Ford Escort Cosworth, and he is also one of the six “world design experts” asked to review each candidate in the World Car Design category. Other names here include Gert Hildebrand, Patrick le Quement, Tom Matano, Victor Nacif, and Shiro Nakamura.
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
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