In affirming and somewhat expected news, the World Car Awards for 2023 were given out at the New York motor show overnight and the dominant trends arrived in the form of South Korean automakers and EV enthusiasm. Among the winners of the five vehicular categories (2023 World Car PERSON of the Year is the sixth category), Hyundai, Kia, Citroen and Lucid all took out the top step in their respective categories, which we generally agree with.
The voting panel for the awards consisted of 105 judges from 35 countries and the 2023 World Car of the Year award (as well as the 2023 World Electric Vehicle of the Year and 2023 World Car Design of the Year) was given to the approachable and electric Hyundai Ioniq 6 ($74,000 plus on-road costs), which only recently arrived on Australian shores for the first time.
A car we’re much more familiar with here at Boss Hunting is the EV that took out the 2023 World Performance Car of the Year, none other than the same Kia EV6 GT that John spent an afternoon with down at Sandown Raceway, putting it through its paces and experiencing what an electrically powered 3.5 second sprint time felt like. The EV theme continued for the 2023 World Luxury Car of the Year, given to the slickly design Lucid Air (a very similar model to the one we spotted in the recent Succession season 4 trailer), beating the BMW i7 and the Genesis G90 which were finalists in the category.
The only combustion engine-powered car that earned itself an award in 2023 was the Citroen C3, which claimed the 2023 World Urban Car prize which requires entrants to be produced in at least 5,000 units a year, be sold in two major markets around the world and measure no more than 4.25m in length.
