EV gains more footholds into prestigious motoring awards

As discussed in another article here, What Car? have given their prestigious 2019 ‘Car of the Year’ award to an electric vehicle for the first time. Another interesting aspect of their awards is the increasing number of categories What Car? Assess EVs in.

Reflecting the expansion of the market segments that EVs are now offered in, What Car? – the host of one of the motoring industry’s most prestigious awards – considers there to be enough variety of EVs on offer to now have three of their twenty-six awards categories for EVs.

(These being: best electric, best hybrid, and, a first for the 2019 year: best plug-in hybrid).

The frustration for Australian consumers is the fact that many of the cars assessed for the UK What Car? EV awards categories are simply not available in Australia – in particular, the overall winner of their Car of the Year award. (The Kia e-Niro).

Below I have listed below all the What Car ?EV category and sub-category winners for vehicles available in the UK/Europe. Beside beside each winner I have noted whether the car (or version) is available in Australia.

As you can see, plug-in hybrid buyers can make use of the results, but buyers of full battery or hybrid cars can only lament at the lack of choice we have here still.

What Car? winners for 2019 were:

Electric car:Winner – Kia e-Niro

Sub-categories:

Best Electric Car less than £30,000:

• Renault Zoe R110 Dynamique Nav (Version not available in Australia)

Best Electric Car between £30,000 and £60,000:

• Kia e-Niro First Edition (Vehicle not available in Australia)

Best Electric Car over £60,000:

• Jaguar I-Pace EV400 S (Available in Australia)

Hybrid car:Winner – Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid Premium

Sub-categories:

Best Hybrid Car less than £20,000:

• Toyota Yaris Hybrid Icon (Vehicle not available in Australia)

Best Hybrid Car between £20,000 and £30,000:

• Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid Premium (Available in Australia)

Best Hybrid Car over £30,000:

• Honda CR-V Hybrid AWD SR (Vehicle not available in Australia)

Plug-in Hybrid car: Winner – Volvo XC90 T8

Sub-categories:

Hyundai Ioniq Plug-in Hybrid Premium

Best Plug-in Hybrid Car less than £30,000:

• Hyundai Ioniq Plug-in Hybrid Premium (Available in Australia)

Best Plug-in Hybrid Car between £30,000 and £50,000:

• BMW 5 Series 530e SE (Available in Australia)

Best Plug-in Hybrid Car over £50,000:

• Volvo XC90 T8 Inscription (Available in Australia)