The 2022 World Car of the Year (WCOTY) awards were announced during a special ceremony today at the New York International Auto Show. The all-new Hyundai IONIQ 5 was the clear winner, taking home three of the six awards.
More specifically, the electric crossover from South Korea earned the World Car of the Year, World Electric Vehicle of the Year and World Car Design of the Year awards.
Winners and Finalists
In the World Car Design of the Year category, the IONIQ 5 beat the Audi e-tron GT and Kia EV6.
The World Urban Car of the Year award was given to the Toyota Yaris Cross over the two other finalists, the Opel Mokka and Volkswagen Taigun. None of these models are sold in North America.
In the World Performance Car of the Year category, the e-tron GT defeated a pair of duos including the BMW M3/M4 as well as the Toyota GR 86/Subaru BRZ.
For the World Luxury Car of the Year award, the jury picked the all-electric Mercedes-Benz EQS. The other finalists were the BMW iX and Genesis GV70.
The World Electric Vehicle of the Year category was a new addition for 2022, and as mentioned above the IONIQ 5 secured the award instead of the e-tron GT and EQS.
Finally, the IONIQ 5 got the nod over the Ford Mustang Mach-E and Kia EV6 as the overall 2022 World Car of the Year.
Who Votes for the WCOTY Awards?
For the past 17 years, the WCOTY jury has assembled auto journalists from multiple countries including Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.
I have the incredible honour of being one of four Canadian representatives this year along with The Globe and Mail’s Mark Richardson, Autoguide.com’s Sami Haj-Assaad and Autonerve’s Regina Chan.