THE World Car of the Year Awards 2020 (WCOTY) — one of the most prestigious events in the automotive world — recently revealed its winners with some interesting results.
WCOTY 2020 was juried by 86 international motoring journalists who assessed and voted for more than 50 new cars.
Four models from three car brands emerged as winners in the five categories; that's right, there's a car that brought home double victories in the 16th edition of the award.
The winners were announced during a live online conference by the WCOTY organisation.
2020 WORLD CAR OF THE YEAR: KIA TELLURIDE
Let's start straight with the highlight of the year, or the World Car of the Year, which is the Kia Telluride.
The seven-seater sport utility vehicle (SUV) was declared the winner over the Mazda3 and Mazda CX-30.
It is the first time Kia or any South Korean car company has won the award in the organisation's history starting from 2005.
Kia Motors Corporation executive vice-president and head of product division Thomas Schemera said: "Everyone at Kia is truly honoured to receive not just one, but two awards from the World Car Awards judging panel.
"This is one of the hardest-fought competitions in the global automotive industry, proving that the Telluride and Soul EV are both truly outstanding vehicles."
Kia's Soul EV (electric vehicle) had won the World Urban Car award.
"These accolades are testament to the talents and efforts of a worldwide team, who all strive to create desirable, high-quality and practical cars that drivers love."
The Kia Telluride is not offered in Malaysia, with the largest Kia SUV on offer being the Sorento. It is available in North America (the United States and Canada) as well as the Middle East.
Besides an ever-growing SUV market, its brand presence in those regions has expanded over the years.
In addition, Kia offers an extensive five to 10-year warranty for the car, and this alone can be a strong factor in its strong sales.
2020 WORLD URBAN CAR — KIA SOUL EV
Kia scored another top prize when its Soul EV came up top ahead of the MINI Electric and Volkswagen T-Cross in the urban car category.
"It is a great honour for us to see the Soul EV named as World Urban Car," said Schemera.
World Car Awards programme co-chair Mike Rutherford said the World Urban Car award was becoming increasingly significant as these "clever, comparatively small cars measuring up to 4.2m long are among the biggest-selling, most accessible, best value vehicles in showrooms across the globe".
"With this trend in mind, the popularity of urban cars is growing — and can only grow further. These are the logical, affordable, real-world automotive products for the motoring masses."
The Soul EV — similar to its sibling the Hyundai Kona — is available in two battery packs.
The 39.2kWh battery offers standard range of up to 277km in a single charge (according to WLTP cycle), while the 64kWh battery offers up to a 452km range from a single charge (with the same cycle).
Both models get Combined Charging System (CCS) DC fast charger as standard, enabling the car to be charged to 80 per cent from 20 per cent in 42 minutes through a 100 kW fast charger.
Nothing much can be weighed in for this category since none of the three finalists are sold in Malaysia.
But the WCOTY juries agreed that the Kia Soul EV was found to be ideal for city drives along with an impressive range and performance in a compact body with bold and practical design.
2020 WORLD LUXURY CAR OF THE YEAR AND PERFORMANCE CAR OF THE YEAR — PORSCHE TAYCAN
Next up is the magnificent Porsche Taycan, winner of two WCOTY awards — for World Luxury Car of the Year and World Performance Car of the Year.
This year marks the sixth win for Porsche AG in the World Performance Car category, having previously won the class in 2006, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2017.
The Taycan succeeded in this category in a historic triple against the 911 and the 718 Spyder/Cayman GT4.
Candidates eligible for World Performance Car must be produced in volumes of at least 2,000 units a year, must be clearly performance-focused in nature, and must be available for sale on at least two continents during the period beginning Jan 1 last year to May 31 this year.
The World Luxury Car of the Year award, however, was the first ever for Porsche in the category.
The Taycan, which can complete the century sprint in under three seconds, upstaged the Mercedes-Benz EQC and the Porsche 911 to bag the top prize.
Michael Steiner, member of the executive board, research and development, said: "This double win underlines what we wanted to achieve when we developed the Taycan.
"We wanted to create a driver-focused, fully electric sports car that can take on any performance car.
"At the same time, we focused on uncompromised everyday-usability and contemporary, digital luxury and comfort for four passengers. We are delighted that the WCOTY jury rewards these efforts."
But to see the car named as the World Luxury Car is rather impressive, considering the other two finalists were big names (with massive dimensions) in the BMW X7, Cadillac CT5 and Mercedes GLS.
2020 WORLD CAR DESIGN OF THE YEAR — MAZDA3
The Mazda3, with its emotional design and clever play of light surfaces, edged out Peugeot 208 and Porsche Taycan — although all three are equipped with bold and unique design features of their own — to bag the top design prize.
"We are truly honoured to be able to receive the World Car Design of the Year award in this special year, which marks the 100th anniversary of Mazda's foundation," said Mazda Motor Corporation representative director, president and chief executive officer Akira Marumoto.
The World Car Design of the Year award is meant to highlight new vehicles with innovation and style that push established boundaries.
In that regard, Mazda3 sure has a solid bragging rights, with the KODO design language as well as Jinba-Ittai philosophy having certainly worked in its favour.