2024 World Car Awards: all the winners revealed!
The winners in each of the 2024 World Car Awards’ 6 categories – including the recipient of the overall prize – have been announced. Drumroll, please…
The organisers of the 2024 World Car Awards have revealed the winners in each of the competition’s 6 categories, making the announcements in series at the New York International Auto Show.
As a reminder, the World Car Finals (powered by Brembo) boasts a jury of more than 100 highly experienced judges from 29 countries, including Cars.co.za’s very own Hannes Oosthuizen.
So, to the winners. The Kia EV9 secured not only the World Electric Vehicle award but also the 2024 World Car of the Year title. For the record, this double-win takes Kia’s award total in the competition’s 20-year history to 5, including an overall victory for the Telluride back in 2020.
In the 2024 World Car of the Year category, the EV9 was chosen from an initial entry group of 38 contenders, a list that was whittled down to just 3 finalists – the BYD Seal, Volvo EX30 and, of course, the EV9 itself – about a month ago. In the World Electric Vehicle class, the EV9 triumphed over the BMW i5 and the aforementioned EX30.
What about the other categories? Well, the BMW 5 Series (including the battery-powered i5 mentioned above) beat the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and the electric Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV to the title of World Luxury Car. This represents the 9th award win for the BMW Group in the competition’s 2-decade history.
Fascinatingly, though the BMW M2 coupé and the hybrid-powered BMW XM made the final 3 in the World Performance Car category, that award was instead grabbed by the electric Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, representing the Korean firm’s 7th award. For the record, the Ioniq 6 was a triple winner in 2023, while the Ioniq 5 pulled off the same feat a year prior (both including the overall title in the respective years).
Meanwhile, the World Urban Car gong went to the Volvo EX30, with the Swedish automaker’s smallest SUV seeing off fellow top-3 finalists the electric BYD Dolphin and the hybrid-powered Lexus LBX. The EX30’s victory in this segment was Volvo’s 2nd win in the competition’s history, after the XC60 took the overall title in 2018.
Finally, the Toyota Prius was handed the World Car Design of the Year trophy, beating out the Ford Bronco and Ferrari Purosangue. In this category, a design panel comprising 6 “highly respected world design experts” established the shortlist of recommendations (from an initial list of 70 vehicles) for the jurors’ final vote.
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