The jury of the World Car of the Year (WCotY) award has revealed this year’s winners at the recently opened New York International Auto Show. For the first time in two decades, the grand prize went to a BMW – the all-electric iX3 crossover, to be specific.
Then again, this year’s winner lineup ended up all-electric with no ICE cars in the mix. It was curated by 98 reporters from 33 countries around the world, who decided on their votes privately without consulting the others. They were also provided free test drives of the shortlisted cars in multiple regions across the globe. The BMW iX3 won in a narrow fight against Nissan Leaf and Hyundai Palisade.
In turn, Hyundai Ioniq 6 N won in the World Performance Car category, while the Chinese-made Nio Firefly was recognized as the World Urban Car. The mid-size Mazda 6e liftback, alternatively known as the EZ-6, snatched the World Car Design award. In the luxury vehicle segment, U.S.-made Lucid Gravity took home the top prize.
In case you forgot, the main WCotY–2025 prize went to the all-electric Kia EV3. There was only one non-electrified winner last year – the Porsche 911. Unsurprisingly, it got the performance car award.
