HYUNDAI recently stole the show at the 17th World Car Awards, which was held in partnership with the New York International Auto Show.
The South Korean carmaker's Ioniq 5 won in three categories, grabbing the 2022 World Car of the Year, 2022 World Electric Vehicle of the Year, and 2022 World Car Design of the Year awards.
Additionally, Hyundai Motor Group executive vice-president and chief creative officer Luc Donckerwolke was named 2022 World Car Person of the Year.
"We are truly honoured to receive these prestigious awards that recognise the talent and hard work of all our people and business partners at Hyundai Motor Company.
"Our vision is to enable progress for humanity and this endorsement of our approach will serve to embolden our commitment to make this vision a reality," said Hyundai president and chief executive officer Jaehoon Chang.
He said the Ioniq 5 represented a pivotal achievement for the company as it pioneered a new generation of smart mobility solutions with its innovative E-GMP platform, exceptional performance, and disruptive approach to design and space.
"Our game-changing electric vehicle (EV) has made a strong impact on increasingly eco-conscious and demanding consumers around the world, and its success supports the acceleration of electrification of the automotive industry.
"The pace of change at Hyundai will continue unabated through the rest of this year as we will soon be adding to our award-winning Ioniq range," Chang added.
Its executive vice-president and head of Hyundai Global Design Centre, SangYup Lee, said the company set out to create a new game-changing mobility experience with the award-winning EV.
"This extraordinary vehicle was made possible by the passion and efforts of designers and engineers who pushed the boundaries of what's possible in the EV space."
The jury selected the Ioniq 5 from an initial entry list of 28 vehicles to be the Car of the Year. The vehicle must have a production of at least 10,000 units per year and be priced below the luxury level in their primary markets.
To be eligible, they must have gone on sale in at least two major markets on at least two continents (China, Europe, India, Japan, South Korea, Latin America, United States) at some time between Jan 1 last year and March 30 this year.
These two major prerequisites also extend to all other award categories.
The EV category saw an entry list of 11 vehicles whose eligibility must include being powered solely by one or more electric motors and produced in volumes of at least 5,000 units per year.
For the design category, a panel of six design experts was asked to first review each candidate, and then establish a shortlist of recommendations for the jurors' final vote in February.
The design experts were Gernot Bracht (Germany, Pforzheim Design School), Ian Callum (United Kingdom, Callum design director), Patrick le QuÈment (France, The Sustainable Design School designer and strategy committee president), Tom Matano (US, Academy of Art University and former Mazda design head), Victor Nacif (US, Brojure.com chief creative officer and NewSchool of Architecture and Design instructor) and Shiro Nakamura (Japan, Shiro Nakamura Design Associates Inc chief executive officer).
AUDI E-TRON GT
Though not winning as many awards at this year's event, Audi AG still wrote history.
The Audi e-tron GT bagged the 2022 World Performance Car award, its 11th World Car award. This is the most awards won by any car manufacturer in the event's 18-year history.
"Our big goal with the Audi e-tron GT was to reimagine the Gran Turismo philosophy for the electric age by combining sporty, powerful driving with a high level of everyday usability," said Audi AG product marketing head Christiane Zorn.
It was chosen from an initial entry list of 12 performance cars. Eligibility included having a production volume of at least 2,000 units a year and must be overtly performance-focused in overall character.
The Audi e-tron GT was joined by the BMW M3/M4 and joint entry of Toyota GR86-Subaru BRZ in the top three.
YARIS CROSS
Toyota's Yaris Cross took home the 2022 World Urban Car award, beating five other contestants that included the Opel Mokka and Volkswagen Taigun.
The category requires that the cars have a production volume of at least 5,000 units a year, must be of a maximum 4.20m in overall length, and approved for operation on public roads.
"We are honoured for the award. Our foundation has always been to make good compact cars and this philosophy guided us to develop the Yaris Cross as a compact car with a spacious cargo area and utility, as well as sufficient power and fuel economy.
"We will use this award as motivation as we continue to develop high-quality cars that can meet our customers' needs and promote environment-friendly vehicles that can help reduce CO2 emissions moving forward," said Toyota Compact Car Company and Toyota Motor Corporation chief engineer Takatomo Suzuki.
MERCEDES-BENZ EQS
Mercedes-Benz's EQS was crowned the 2022 World Luxury Car.
The category required the cars to have an annual production volume of at least 5,000 units and must be priced at the luxury-car level in their primary markets,
Luxury car placement is determined based solely on its range of prices over all available models. Specifically, the price range of the subject vehicle is compared to that of established luxury-class vehicles in the major markets where the car is sold.
The vehicle is classified as a luxury vehicle if its median price falls within or above that range.
"We are very honoured and proud to receive this award. It has been an intense journey to build up the electric vehicle architecture (EVA) of which the EQS is the first product.
"Receiving this award is a strong symbol for the whole team and strengthens our goal to build the world's most desirable electric cars," said EVA and Development Electric Drive vice-president Christoph Starzynski.
The EQS was chosen from an initial entry list of eight vehicles that included accompanying finalists BMW iX and the Genesis GV70.
This is the fifth World Luxury Car win for Mercedes-Benz.
The S-Class won honours last year while the E-Class won the award in 2017. In 2015, it was the S-Coupe while in 2014, it was the S-Class.
A jury of 102 international automotive journalists from 33 countries selected the winners through a secret ballot, based on their evaluation of each eligible vehicle as part of their professional work. The votes were tabulated by KPMG.
The jurors' road-test journey was captured virtually on World Car TV, providing viewers with reviews and commentary on the awards' eligible vehicles in the six categories.