Surprise… not: 2022 World Car of the Year finalists are all EVs



If you need any more proof that electric vehicles (EV) are taking over the world, you don’t need to look much further than this. The 2022 World Car Awards have just unveiled the finalists in all six categories, and for its overall “World Car of the Year” award, well, they’re all EVs.

This isn’t the first time that an EV has been nominated for the World Car of the Year award; some of them even won it before, with the Jaguar I-Pace in 2019 and Volkswagen ID.4 last year. But for the first time in its 18-year history, there’ll be an all-electric showdown in the award’s ultimate category.

To qualify for the awards, the cars must have a manufacturing run of at least 10,000 units per year, be available in at least two major markets (China, Europe, India, Japan, Korea, Latin America, USA) on two different continents between January 1, 2021 and March 30, 2022, and priced “below the luxury-car level”.

For 2022, the contenders are the Ford Mustang Mach-E, the Hyundai Ioniq 5, and the Kia EV6 – the latter two even sharing the same platform, so some would argue that they’re essentially the same car. The two Korean EVs are also nominated in the World Car Design category.

RELATED: Kia EV6 named 2022 European Car of the Year

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 was also nominated in the World Electric Vehicle category, alongside the Audi E-Tron GT and Mercedes-Benz EQS. As for the other categories, the finalists include:

  • World Car of the Year
    • Ford Mustang Mach-E
    • Hyundai Ioniq 5
    • Kia EV6
  • World Electric Vehicle
  • World Urban Car
    • Opel Mokka
    • Toyota Yaris Cross
    • Volkswagen Taigun

ALSO READ: Hyundai IONIQ 5 named UK Car of the Year 2022

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 was recently launched in Malaysia in three different variants, with prices starting from RM199,888. The Lite and Plus variants are equipped with a single motor set-up offering 170 hp and 350 Nm, while the range-topping Max variant gets a dual-motor AWD set-up, with 305 hp and 605 Nm.

For the full breakdown of the Hyundai Ioniq 5’s facts and figures in Malaysia, click here.

All winners of the 2022 World Car Awards will be announced ahead of the New York Auto Show on April 13.