.JPG?scaledown=450)
• The 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 is the World Car of the Year.
• The winners of the annual awards are announced this morning at the New York Auto Show.
• The Kia EV6 GT is the World Performance Car of the Year for 2023.
New York, NY - Hyundai has the most reasons to smile after the announcement this morning of the 2023 World Car of the Awards winners in New York. The Korean automaker took home four of the awards, including the overall World Car of the Year trophy, won by the new 2023 Ioniq 6.
The same model also took the titles of World Electric Vehicle of the Year and World Design Car of the Year. It wasn’t much of a surprise, then to see the name of SangYup Lee, Hyundai Executive Vice President, Head of Hyundai and Genesis Global Design Center, engraved on the 2023 Person of the Year award.
See also: 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 First Drive: Style Plus Substance
See also: 2023 Kia EV6 GT First Drive: Doing Justice to the Name
.JPG?scaledown=450)
Hyundai Group member Kia had a good day as well, with the World Performance Car of the Year award going to its EV6 GT. In non-Korean awards news, the Lucid Air was chosen World Luxury Car of the Year, and the European-market Citroen C3 named World Urban Car of the Year.
It’s getting stale describing Hyundai as having the wind in its sails, but it remains true. The Ioniq 6 succeeds the Ioniq 5, chosen last year as World Car of the Year. In both cases, the EVs won in spite of - or because of - designs that certainly didn’t play it safe. Not everyone loved the design of the Ioniq 5 when it debuted last year, and not everyone loves the Ioniq 6 this year. But a lot of folks do, including members of the awards jury.
So many things are happening at Hyundai right now that the presentation of the new, redesigned Kona today at the same New York Auto Show almost – almost – counted as a mundane event. In a normal world, the redesign of a very popular model like the Kona would be big news indeed, and it is big news. It’s just that it has to share a spotlight with others on the busy Hyundai stage.
The annual World Car of the Year awards started off its 2023 selection process with 21 models in contention. The rules laid out by the organization stipulate models must be sold on at least two continents and in at least two major markets between January 1, 2022 and March 30, 2023.