Remember when people used to look at Korean cars and think that they would play second fiddle to Japanese-made vehicles? Well, just take a look at the results of the World Car Awards now.
Running for the past 19 years and composed of 100 distinguished journalists from 32 countries, this annual awards event judges cars based on their different traits. Five different winners are chosen from their respective categories (EV, Luxury, Urban, Performance, and Design), but only one can take home the “World Car of the Year” award.
The Hyundai Ioniq 6 won not one but three awards, specifically World Car of the Year, World Electric Vehicle of the Year, and World Car Design of the Year—the same three awards that its Ioniq 5 sibling won last year.
Also, SangYup Lee, head of Hyundai and Genesis Global Design Center, was named the World Car Person of the Year. Besides designing the Ioniq 6, he was also responsible for the second-generation Kona, the N Vision 74 concept, the 2003 Cadillac Sixteen concept, the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro, and the 2015 Bentley Bentayga.
This also marks the second consecutive Person of the Year win for the Hyundai Motor Group, winning against the likes of Wang Chuanfu (chairman and president of BYD), Dr. Stella Clarke (research engineer of open innovations from the BMW Group), Peter Rawlinson (CEO and CTO of Lucid Motors), and Naoyuki Sakamoto (chief engineer of the Toyota GR Corolla).
WORLD CAR OF THE YEAR
Winner: Hyundai Ioniq 6 (796 points)
Runners-up:
- Kia Niro (756 points)
- BMW X1/iX1 (740 points)
WORLD ELECTRIC VEHICLE
Winner: Hyundai Ioniq 6 (795 points)
Runners-up:
- Lucid Air (791 points)
- BMW i7 (788 points)
WORLD CAR DESIGN
Winner: Hyundai Ioniq 6 (283 points)
Runners-up:
- Range Rover (275 points)
- Lucid Air (275 points)
WORLD PERFORMANCE CAR
Winner: Kia EV6 GT (807 points)
Runners-up:
- Toyota GR Corolla (767 points)
- Nissan Z (720 points)
WORLD LUXURY CAR
Winner: Lucid Air (797 points)
Runners-up:
- BMW 7-Series/i7 (789 points)
- Genesis G90 (768 points)
WORLD URBAN CAR
Winner: Citroen C3 (707 points)
Runners-up:
- Ora Funky Cat/Haomao (692 points)
- Volkswagen Taigo/Nivus (665 points)
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